A report found that district court Judge Robert Newlinds publicly criticised the NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in his judgment on a sexual assault case in 2023, suggesting the trial had been run in a way unfair to the accused.
Throughout the trial, the report stated Newlinds lambasted the crown’s case and repeatedly called it “hopeless”, while he said of the alleged sexual assault victim: “She wrongly thinks that if you have sex with someone and you can’t remember, that’s sexual assault.”
The Judicial Commission – NSW’s watchdog for judges – said Newlinds’ actions were almost worthy of being referred to parliament so it could consider removing him from his position.
But instead it referred the matter back to the chief judge of the district court, while recommending it was inappropriate for him to sit in state criminal matters for the foreseeable future.
Newlinds was appointed to the NSW district court in 2023, having predominantly served in commercial law.
The report noted at one point in the trial he said: “I don’t do criminal law, you know that, don’t you?”