Judge claims Sally Dowling SC made ‘gratuitously personal’ attack

One of the judges at war with chief prosecutor Sally Dowling SC says she included personal attacks on his private life in her complaint to the judicial watchdog.

NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Sally Dowling SC. Picture: NewsWire/Gaye Gerard

One of the judges at war with the state’s chief prosecutor, Sally Dowling SC, claimed she made a “gratuitously personal” and “intentionally inflammatory” attack on his “private life”.

NSW District Court Judge Peter Whitford accused Ms Dowling of taking aim at his personal life in her complaint to the NSW Judicial Commission about his conduct in court where he blasted her office’s decision to prosecute a failed sexual assault case.

The details were revealed when the Commission released its findings that partially upheld Ms Dowling’s complaint and found Judge Whitford’s comments in Newcastle District Court last February were “entirely inappropriate”.

The contents of the Director of Public Prosecutions’ complaint about Judge Whitford have long been gossiped about in legal circles.

Ms Dowling has previously refused to confirm the wording of her complaint. Her spokeswoman declined to comment yesterday.

A judge claimed Sally Dowling SC made a “gratuitously personal” and “intentionally inflammatory” attack on his “private life”.

The section of Ms Dowling’s complaint that allegedly referenced Judge Whitford’s personal life was not detailed in the Commission’s findings.

However, it did reveal Judge Whitford’s reactions to it.

According to the findings, Judge Whitford explained to the Commission that he was “in a heightened emotional state” when he read the DPP’s complaint about him and wrote his first response to the watchdog.

The Commission’s findings said Judge Whitford believed the complaint “contained material that was extraneous, gratuitously personal and intentionally inflammatory.”

The Commission panel’s findings said: “We consider that the references in the complaint to the Judicial Officer’s private life, in particular, were provocative and unnecessary”.

However, the panel recommended Judge Whitford be “counselled and supported” by the Chief Judge.

The findings bring an end to a saga that began in February.

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