El-Hilli v R; Melville v R [2015] NSWCCA 289

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: El-Hilli v R; Melville v R [2015] NSWCCA 289 Hearing dates: 14 September 2015 Decision date: 23 November 2015 Before: Basten JA at [1]; Hall J at [112]; Wilson J at [113] Decision: With respect to Issam El-Hilli:

(1) Grant Issam El-Hilli leave to challenge his convictions on grounds (2) and (3) as identified in his "final submissions" dated 6 July 2015, but otherwise refuse leave to appeal.

(2) Dismiss the appeal, limited to those grounds.

(3) Refuse Issam El-Hilli leave to appeal against the sentences imposed on 16 December 2014.

With respect to Jenny Samantha Melville:

(1) Grant leave to appeal against conviction on grounds (3) and (5) as set out in her final submissions, but otherwise refuse leave to appeal.

(2) Dismiss the appeal, limited to those grounds.

(3) Grant leave to appeal against the sentences imposed on 16 December 2014.

(4) Subject to any further order of the Court, dismiss the appeal against the sentences, with effect from 15 March 2016. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – conviction appeal – judge only trial – whether trial judge failed to inform self-represented accused about right to seek adjournment to arrange for legal representation – no omission established – no question of principle raised

CRIMINAL LAW – sentence appeal – whether sentencing judge erred in not backdating sentence in consideration of prior lengthy period of conditional liberty – whether impact of full term imprisonment on the female offender did not properly considered the impact on her child – whether circumstances were exceptional