A Court of Appeal will not grant declaratory relief to circumvent the statutory prohibition on interlocutory appeals from pre-trial rulings under s 590AA(4) of the Criminal Code (Qld) absent most exceptional circumstances. The legislative policy against fragmentation of the criminal trial process is a powerful discretionary consideration against such relief. A pre-trial judge's assessment of pre-trial publicity in refusing a change of venue may properly be referred to in refusing a judge-alone trial application heard at the same time.
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