‘No problems with judges’: NSW DPP Sally Dowling’s message to court chief

Chief prosecutor Sally Dowling privately told the new head of the District Court she has no problems with any NSW judges, despite having made complaints against at least three of them.

NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Sally Dowling SC.

Chief prosecutor Sally Dowling SC privately reached out to the new head of the District Court, saying she had no problems with any NSW judges, despite having made judicial complaints against at least three of them.

It comes as, in what appears to be a bid for reconciliation, a joint presentation from judges, prosecutors and defence barristers about “ethical issues” facing lawyers is announced, following ­“extensive discussion … of the conduct of criminal trials” across the state this year.

While incoming chief judge Sarah Huggett is due to give a speech at the event, Ms Dowling has sent her deputy, Helen Roberts SC, to deliver an address ­titled “Aspects of the Role of the ODPP and of a Prosecutor’s ­Duties”.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has come under intense scrutiny over the past six months after five judges accused it of running “meritless” sexual assault cases, and prosecuting matters that had no hope of securing a conviction.

Off the back of the criticism, Ms Dowling announced an audit of more than 400 sexual assault cases across the state, to ensure that they were complying with prosecution guidelines.

The outcome of that audit is yet to be made public.

The Australian understands Ms Dowling last week wrote to Judge Huggett expressing that she did not have any problems with sitting judges, despite taking judicial complaints out against judges Robert Newlinds, Peter Whitford and Sean Grant.

The Australian also understands that on Monday Judge Huggett sent an email to all sitting judges passing on Ms Dowling’s message.

Ms Dowling took out a complaint against Judge Newlinds late last year, after he accused her office of running “lazy and perhaps politically expedient” cases, and operating according to “some sort of unwritten policy” when it came to rape prosecutions.

At the time, Ms Dowling’s office released a statement saying “such remarks unfairly impugn the integrity of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the staff of the ODPP.”

Ms Dowling has complained against Judge Grant, who earlier this year accused her of the most blatant “judge shopping” he had seen in 35 years in the law, in a bid to stop him imposing lenient sentences on two 15-year-old boys.

Last Friday, Judge Whitford revealed in a Newcastle court that Ms Dowling had taken a complaint out against him, as well.

“I consider I am obliged to inform the parties that I am presently the subject of a complaint to the Judicial Commission made by the Director of Public Prosecutions,” Judge Whitford told the court, according to News Local.

He later added: “In a variety of ways, using quite strong language, the complaint calls in question my fitness to hold judicial office, my competence, my impartiality and my integrity.”

The parties had no issues to raise following the disclosure.

NSW Bar Association president Ruth Higgins SC on Tuesday announced she would be chairing a presentation alongside Law Society of NSW president Brett McGrath on June 17 following “extensive discussion this year, in various contexts and across various subject matters, of the conduct of criminal trials in NSW.”

“The membership of our association is diverse. Practitioners at the private Bar, public defenders, crown prosecutors, judges, parliamentary counsel, clerks and academics make up its body,” Ms Higgins wrote in a message to barristers. “Each of those individuals has a different, and differently demanding, role to discharge in the administration of justice.

“Yet, even in the agonistic setting of an adversarial system, each of those individuals, if appearing in a court, shares a basal and primary duty to that court.

New NSW District Court chief judge Sarah Huggett.

“At its core, every trial is a cooperative endeavour among its participants to promote the fair and efficient administration of justice in this state. There has been extensive discussion this year, in various contexts and across various subject-matters, of the conduct of criminal trials in NSW. Such trials routinely raise complex legal, practical, and ethical issues for all involved.”

Judge Huggett will speak on “Aspects of Adjudication in a Criminal Trial”.

“The speakers will address aspects of the judicial role in criminal trials; legal, ethical, and practical aspects of defence and prosecution advocacy in criminal trials; the prosecutorial independence of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the independence of the judiciary, and how those axiomatic principles intersect,” Ms Higgins said in her message to the bar.

Ms Dowling refused to answer questions about why she was not speaking at the event, the contents of her complaint against Judge Whitford, or her correspondence with the chief judge.