The case confirms that the central question on an application to withdraw a guilty plea is whether the applicant has discharged the onus of showing the plea was not attributable to a genuine consciousness of guilt. An erroneous ruling on admissibility of evidence may found leave to withdraw a plea, but where the ruling is correct, the coincidence of timing between the ruling and the plea does not advance the applicant's case. The Commissioner's subjective understanding of his role in taking foreign evidence by video link is irrelevant; what matters is the effect his actions produced on the proceedings.
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