Supreme Court of New South Wales

Judgment Just In: Hildebrand v R (No. 2) [2026] NSWCCA 23

The Court of Criminal Appeal has granted an extension of time and leave to appeal, but dismissed the appeal, brought by Mr Hildebrand against the sentence imposed on him in the District Court on 10 February 2022.

Mr Hildebrand was originally sentenced on 27 September 2019. He appealed the sentence to this Court, succeeding in one ground. The matter was then remitted to the same sentencing judge for a resentencing hearing, where Mr Hildebrand received a term of imprisonment of 20 years, with a non-parole period of 15 years. It is the sentence imposed at the resentence hearing that is the subject of this appeal.

Read the judgment here: https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/19cf9dfe3d3258596bba3457

Summary: https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/asset/19d08925d49436ed278afe96.docx

Vale Sir Anthony Mason AC KBE GBM KC.
A statement from the Chief Justice on the passing of Sir Anthony Mason can be read here:https://supremecourt.nsw.gov.au/documents/media/MasonAC-20260318.pdf

The Honourable Justice Helen Roberts was sworn in this morning as a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Attorney General Michael Daley and the President of the Law Society of New South Wales, Mr Ronan MacSweeney, congratulated her Honour on her appointment.

Judgment Just In: Edwards v R [2026] NSWCCA 15

The Court of Criminal Appeal has dismissed an appeal brought by Mr Edwards against a sentence imposed on him for three drug supply offences and one offence of possessing an unauthorised imitation pistol. Three additional offences were taken into account when passing sentence. The sentencing judge imposed a term of 3 years and 5 months’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 2 years and 1 month. The majority held that the sentencing judge fell into factual error, but in re-sentencing, found that a lesser sentence was not warranted in law. His Honour Fagan J found there was no error on behalf of the sentencing judge, but that the sentence imposed was not manifestly excessive. Mr Edwards is first eligible for release to parole on 8 April 2027.

Read the judgment here: https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/19c972b60ed3446a674e273c

Summary: https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/asset/19cc067d0c46271096a50caf.docx

Judgment just in: Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) v President of the Legislative Council of New South Wales [2026] NSWCA 20

The Court of Appeal declared that Article 9 of the Bill of Rights does not operate validly to prevent the Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) from making a recusal application on the ground of apprehended bias based on a submission to Parliament made by the judge.

Read the judgment here: https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/19cb2047335215cbced878bb

Summary:https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/asset/19cbb2e360b6e21622e114db.pdf

The Chief Justice of New South Wales, the Honourable Andrew Bell AC has welcomed the appointment of Helen Roberts SC as a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. She replaces Justice Mark Ierace, who has served on the Bench since 2019.

Ms Roberts began her legal career as tipstaff to Justice Kim Santow before becoming an associate to the Honourable Murray Gleeson AC KC, then Chief Justice of Australia. She was appointed as a Crown Prosecutor in 2010, and took silk in 2021 before being appointed Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions in 2022. She has also served as co-chair the NSW Bar Association’s Criminal Law Committee.

Ms Roberts will be sworn in at a ceremonial sitting in the Banco Court on 16 March. All members of the public and the profession are welcome to attend.

The Court of Appeal will hear Jarrett & Ors v State of New South Wales at 9:30am on 26 February 2026 in the Banco Court on Level 13 of the Law Courts building. The plaintiffs are seeking declarations that several provisions introduced by the Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2025 (NSW) are invalid as they impermissibly burden the implied constitutional freedom of communication on government and political matters (IFPC).

View the livestream on the Court’s YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/live/mAkzRR43P8E?si=AZFmb73FKrWAQN5A

Submissions can be found here: https://supremecourt.nsw.gov.au/practice-procedure/nswca/submissions/elizabeth-ann-jarrett-v-state-of-new-south-wales.html

Judgment just in: Mehajer v R [2026] NSWCCA 14

The Court of Criminal Appeal has granted leave to appeal but dismissed the appeal brought by Mr Salim Mehajer against his conviction for six personal violence offences against his former partner, and has refused to grant leave to appeal against an aggregate sentence of 7 years, 9 months’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 3 years and 6 months. The Court held that there was no unfairness in the trial, and no miscarriage of justice.

Read the judgment here: https://tinyurl.com/Mehajer-Judgment

Summary: https://tinyurl.com/Mehajer-JS

Chief Justice Andrew Bell AC has delivered the opening remarks at Solution Focused Justice – A Cross-Jurisdictional Symposium. The Chief Justice said: “Solution focused criminal justice makes remarkably good sense not only in terms of its social value but also, likely, in economic terms as offenders are diverted from custody, the cost of which places a huge burden on public funds…So much more logical, is it not, to divert some of those public funds in aid of programs which are directed not only to reducing the size of the prison population but to breaking cycles of destructive criminality. The investment of respect so often yields the dividend of self-esteem and, in the best case scenarios, turns around a young life to the ultimate benefit of the wider community.”

Learn more about Solution Focused Justice here: https://bugmybarbook.org.au/solution-focused-justice/

Read the Chief Justice’s speech here:https://supremecourt.nsw.gov.au/documents/Publications/Speeches/2026-speeches/CJ-20260220.pdf

Judgment Just In: Davey v Want [2026] NSWCA 12

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Ms Davey against the primary judge’s dismissal of her claim that the respondent, Mr Want, sexually abused her on two occasions in the early 1970s. The Court held that the primary judge did not err in the manners alleged by Ms Davey.

Read the judgment here: https://tinyurl.com/Davey-v-Want-Judgment

Summary: https://tinyurl.com/yc59cn4f

Judgment Just In: Simpson (a pseudonym) v R [2026] NSWCCA 6

On 6 February 2026, the Court of Criminal Appeal refused an appeal by the applicant against a sentence imposed on her in the District Court, following a trial by jury, for specially aggravated detain for advantage and for acting with intent to influence a witness, totalling 11 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 6 years.

The applicant appealed on the basis that the sentencing judge erred in her Honour’s characterisation of the applicant’s offending behaviour, treatment of the applicant’s mental health conditions and that the sentence was manifestly excessive.

In rejecting the appeal, the Court found that the sentencing judge had not mischaracterised the applicant’s conduct during the detain offence as “methodical,” “calculating” and “systematic”. Further, her Honour did not accept the forensic psychologist’s opinion of a causal nexus between the applicant’s mental condition and her commission of the detain offence. It was open on the evidence for her Honour to decline to do so. The sentence was not manifestly excessive.

Read the judgment here: https://tinyurl.com/Simpson-Judgment

Sophie Howard​
Judgment Just In: Weston Energy Pty Ltd v National Ceramic Industries Australia Pty Ltd [2026] NSWCA 7

The CA has allowed an appeal brought by gas retailer, Weston Energy Pty Ltd, against a decision that it had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct by representing that it would obtain third-party “Price Capping Insurance” in relation to its gas supply contract with National Ceramic Industries Australia Pty Ltd.

The Court also refused leave to cross appeal.

Read the judgment here: https://tinyurl.com/westonenergyjudgment

Summary: https://tinyurl.com/westonenergysummary