Judge tells lawyer to get her act together

A SYDNEY-based lawyer who sometimes works in Tasmania’s courts has been given a strict deadline to file appropriate grounds of appeal on behalf of her client, convicted murderer Darren Ward Gale.

Gale was sentenced to 22 years in jail on August 2 after being found guilty of killing, beheading and burying his then Ulverstone flatmate in a bush grave in 2016.

On August 8, Gale appealed his conviction, and a directions hearing before Justice Gregory Geason was due to be held in the Burnie Supreme Court yesterday.

But in a blistering attack, Justice Geason told Mai Truong her work on Gale’s appeal was the worst he had witnessed in 30 years of practice.

“The work you have done falls far short of what is needed to advance this case,” he said.

Justice Geason set a new directions hearing of December 10, and told Ms Truong if she did not attend court in Hobart there would be consequences for both her and Gale.

Instead of receiving a settled grounds of appeal and particulars ready for yesterday’s directions hearing, Ms Truong sent an email titled “draft further and better particulars”.

Ms Truong told the court her appeal was a “work in progress” and she was waiting on documents from the Supreme Court in Tasmania. She told the court there were grounds for appeal but the trial was very complex and technical and she needed more time.

“I need a settled notice of appeal with settled grounds and particulars,” Justice Geason told her.