A five-year delay in filing an appeal application, supported only by generalised and unsupported assertions of shock, health issues, and financial difficulty, is insufficient to justify an extension of time where the proposed grounds of appeal lack real merit. An anti-propensity direction given by the trial judge the morning after a prosecutor's impermissible tendency submissions in closing address can be sufficient to cure the prejudice where the evidence and issues are not complex. Encouraging remarks by a trial judge to a jury during deliberations ('You will get there') do not constitute an impermissible perseverance direction when made in the context of answering jury questions and reminding the jury of the burden of proof.
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