A Queensland magistrate’s ‘inappropriate’ and ‘intemperate’ remarks during a trial have led to the overturning of an Indigenous man’s conviction for evading police in the remote Cape York community of Aurukun. The District Court found the magistrate repeatedly interrupted the defence solicitor, made disparaging comments, and failed to approach the case with impartiality.
Rex Austin Ngakyunkwokka was convicted by the magistrate in a circuit court hearing that lasted about 10 minutes. However, District Court Justice Tracy Fantin overturned the conviction last week, ruling that the verdict was not supported by evidence and that the magistrate made multiple errors of law, including misstating evidence and unfairly drawing an adverse inference against the applicant.
The appeal judgment highlighted that the magistrate described the defence as ‘something from Bart Simpson’, ‘very wrong’ and ‘fanciful’, and exclaimed ‘Jesus Christ’ and ‘my God’. The magistrate also told the prosecutor to object to defence questions and prevented the defence solicitor from advancing her submissions properly.
The case stemmed from a police stop outside Aurukun on 6 November 2024. Police attempted to stop a vehicle but it did not comply; later, a vehicle was disabled by a tyre deflation device and abandoned. Ngakyunkwokka, the vehicle’s owner, told the trial he was not the driver and that the keys were accessible to extended family members. Under Queensland law, he was required to provide a statutory declaration naming the driver, but the appeals court found he did not comprehend this requirement.
Justice Fantin described the prosecution case as ‘not strong’ and found no grounds for conviction. She ruled that a fair-minded observer might consider the magistrate lacked impartiality, and that the conduct of the trial prevented a fair hearing.
