… the answer may be a long time away… or maybe it’s not.

That longest chapter in my upcoming and latest loss-leading book, Waiting for the Axe to Fall, just keeps on building.

The District Court judge hearing my appeal on Monday April 13 against a Magistrate’s Court conviction for speeding in a school zone seemed very confident that his judgement wouldn’t take long at all; that he’d hand it down in a few days, certainly no later that Friday April 17.

Well, it’s now nine weeks since that April Friday so here is my draft of another sub-section under that forever-expanding Waiting for the Axe to Fall…. chapter. This book might end up being the size of War and Peace but I must stress here once more that if the District Court appeal judge is half the professional, objective, decently fair and analytical jurist I hope him to be, I’m more than happy to see my print costs grow as he takes all the time needed to evaluate what you will all know by now is a very interesting case with several unknown unknowns that might never be known. I’m not sure I’ve mentioned before a camera operator’s certificate that might or may not exist and a lower-court transcript that may or may not be missing some important dialogue. Both were crucial to our pitch at appeal.

How does the tape measure up?

4.30pm Friday 12 June 2026

First of all, some very sad news. The barrister who represented me at the Magistrates Court hearing in May last year, John Shepley, has died after a fairly brief battle with cancer.

John did a brilliant pro bono job for me at that lower-court hearing and I’ll always be grateful to him for that. He admitted afterwards that he hadn’t done traffic matters for a long time but I thought we tag-teamed well, getting into the transcript much of what we wanted to in difficult circumstances.

John and I met in another millennium when I was producing a lot of trade union publications and he was an organiser, then industrial officer and assistant secretary of the then Queensland Association of Teachers in Independent Schools. What’s there not to like about someone devoted to the cause of workers?

We lost contact for a long time after that but met up again a few years ago, hence his offer to help with this legal battle. I guess John always had a soft spot for a lost cause. Me, I mean, Not the fight I’m on…. not lost yet anyway. My condolences to John’s family, friends and associates over his passing, far too early, in his late 60s.

John and I were among a handful of people at that magistrates court hearing and we know what we heard; that the magistrate gave the police prosecutor an ultimatum – “fix a flaw in your case or you won’t like the decision I’m leaning towards”. Slightly paraphrased. The prosecutor a short time later said she had nothing more to offer.

It’s why we both thought several times during that hearing that we were going to be successful. We did however refrain from fist pumps should her learned honour find that improper. And it’s now some weeks since I wrote to QTranscripts calling for an examination to determine if, indeed, the written transcript and the oral recording show a section of those proceedings is indeed missing.

I accept that QTranscripts’ work load is heavy, but my guess is that suggestions that a transcript is incomplete and an investigation is asked for are not that common. John’s voice has been sadly silenced but could I suggest that QTranscripts could ask Magistrate Shepherd and the police prosecutor from last year for their own recollections?

At the very least, a reply from QTranscripts, if only to acknowledge receipt of my letter, would have been nice. Something along the lines of “Thanks for that. We’re onto it!” Still, why should anything run smoothly or logically or fairly given everything that’s happened on this very interesting judicial journey of mine?

Don Gordon-Brown

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