The High Court has refused J.B. leave to pursue a late judicial review of a decision by the Refugee Appeals Commission (RAC) and ordered costs in favour of the respondents.
In a judgment delivered on 18 May 2007, Mr Justice Hedigan said the RAC report was made on 10 January 2004 and notified to J.B. on 21 January. The 14-day period for seeking judicial review ran from notification, but her notice of motion was not issued until 9 November 2004. She therefore needed the court’s permission to extend the time limit, which required “good and substantial reasons”.
J.B. relied on distress and argued that any failure by her legal representatives should not be held against her. The judge found neither reason sufficient and refused the extension. That disposed of her first ground, concerning her having been interviewed by a male officer. The judgment says she had been told she could request a female interviewer, declined, and signed a form recording that choice. The judge added that he would have found that ground difficult to accept even if time had been extended.
The court also rejected J.B.’s argument that the tribunal applied an incorrect test of persecution in a civil war, including by requiring her to show she faced a differential risk beyond that inherent in the conflict. The judge found no error in the tribunal’s treatment of that issue.
On credibility, the tribunal had cited J.B.’s failure to mention in her questionnaire an alleged abduction and two weeks of virtual sexual slavery, alongside accounts of widespread rape and an alleged rape by two gunmen. It also relied on conflicting accounts about her passport. Those matters were tribunal reasoning recounted in the judgment, not new findings by the High Court about the allegations.
Justice Hedigan said a reviewing court should not substitute its own view of credibility for the tribunal’s assessment of oral evidence, and could intervene only in rare circumstances, such as a breach of fair procedures or lack of jurisdiction. He found neither in this case and said the tribunal had reasonable grounds to doubt J.B.’s credibility.
The final ground argued that the asylum appeal was decided without a definitive finding on J.B.’s nationality. The judge rejected that argument, saying the tribunal proceeded on the basis that she was from Liberia. He said questioning about her knowledge of Liberia’s geography concerned her credibility about where in the country she came from. The court refused leave and ordered costs in respect of the respondents.