Westpoint director’s appeal rejected (Norman Carey)
Issue Date: - Wednesday, 11 January 2012
The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by the director of Westpoint Realty Pty Ltd (in liquidation), Mr Norman Carey, who was found guilty of five charges of making false or misleading representations regarding a residential property development in Rivervale in 2005.
Mr Carey lodged an appeal following his conviction by the Perth Magistrates Court on 11 February 2011 for breaches of the Fair Trading Act.
During the three week trial, lawyers acting on behalf of the Commissioner for Consumer Protection told the Magistrates Court that the company, via its agents, misled purchasers of units in the Regent Apartments development by falsely informing them that there had been indefinite delays to the project due to planning approvals. The agents caused purchasers to terminate their contracts of sale, then each of the units were then re-sold at a higher price within a relatively short period of time.
Two former Westpoint Realty Pty Ltd agents pleaded guilty to related charges in September 2010 and were fined $2,000 and $750 respectively and were granted spent convictions in light of their cooperation with the prosecution. A third agent, Mr Thomas Haynes, pleaded guilty in December 2010 and was convicted and fined $1,000 and ordered to pay Court costs of $1,180. His application for a spent conviction was refused.
In dismissing all seven grounds of the appeal on 10 January 2012, Justice Murray noted Magistrate Malone’s findings that Mr Carey’s evidence was “untruthful” and that he was in a position to influence the conduct of Westpoint agents and could have, by exercising reasonable diligence, prevented the offences. Mr Carey was ordered pay the Commissioner’s costs for the unsuccessful appeal.
The complex case involved 6,000 pages of electronic documents, 8 defendants, 22 witnesses, and will now return to the Magistrates’ Court for sentencing submissions, unless there is a further appeal.
Two of the eight defendants were acquitted at trial, two were convicted, one defendant, Lanepoint Enterprises Pty Ltd had its charges withdrawn, and three defendants pleaded guilty and were sentenced. Westpoint Realty Pty Ltd and Mr Carey are yet to be sentenced.
END OF RELEASE
(Consumer Protection is a division of the Department of Commerce)
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