Chan, Youlang v R [2009] NSWDC 242

Reported Decision : 9 DCLR (NSW) 336

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: Chan, Youlang v R [2009] NSWDC 242

JUDGMENT DATE: 17 August 2009

JURISDICTION: District Court of New South Wales

JUDGMENT OF: C Armitage DCJ

DECISION: The appeal is upheld and the disqualification order of the learned magistrate for twelve months is discharged.

CATCHWORDS: Criminal Law - sentence appeal - whether driver disqualification can be imposed where S.10 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act is applied

Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 Road Transport (Driver Licencing) Act 1998 LEGISLATION CITED: Fines Act 1996 Victims Compensation Act 1996 Road Transport (General) Act 1998 Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Act 1998

PARTIES: Youlang Chan Regina

FILE NUMBER(S): 2009/10882

SOLICITORS: Director of Public Prosecutions

JUDGMENT

1 This is an appeal against a disqualification order made by a magistrate at Burwood Local Court on 19 June 2009 following dismissal of a charge of driving while the appellant's licence was suspended, the dismissal being under s 10(1)(a) of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999. The charge faced by the appellant was under s 25A of the Road Transport (Driver Licensing) Act 1998. The section provides in subs (2) that a person whose driver licence is suspended other than under s 66 of the Fines Act 1996, which does not apply to the present case, must not relevantly drive on a road or road related area a motor vehicle of the class to which the suspended driver licence relates. I thank the parties' representatives for their detailed statutory arguments, which have enabled me to deliver ex tempore reasons immediately on this short but difficult point. I took the Crown to agree eventually in argument with the conclusion I have reached when I traced it for them.