Justice Michael Daly ordered legal aid represent Wake, saying he had a right to lawyers. The decision came after Tasmania's Legal Aid Commission lawyer Rochelle Mainwaring said Wake's application for legal aid had no merit, the matter was not complex and it wasn't in the interest of justice for them to represent him.
Darren Mark Wake is serving 26 years behind bars for stabbing ex-wife and mother-of-two Rachel Wake to death at her Hobart home on Christmas Day in 2021. Wake, who was sentenced in 2024 and has a non-parole period of 17 years, has lodged an appeal against the length of the sentence arguing it is manifestly excessive.
He used a folding knife to stab Ms Wake 17 times in a vicious attack motivated by resentment. The pair's son was inside the house at the time, while daughter Romany had parked outside after driving Wake when he said he wanted to deliver a present.
The conflict between the judge and the legal aid commission reveals competing views on how public resources should be allocated. Mainwaring argued that many applicants appealing their sentence length represented themselves, suggesting Wake did not require state-funded representation. However, Daly rejected this logic entirely.
It was important the appeal court's time was not wasted and that an appeal in such a well-known case was conducted with professionalism and decorum, he said. The judge questioned whether the legal aid commission's resistance was truly about the case's merits. "How could you realistically, other than for resourcing purposes, be making these submissions?" he asked Ms Mainwaring.
The tension reflects a fundamental principle of criminal justice: every person facing court proceedings is entitled to legal representation, regardless of the strength of their claim. A self-represented appellant in a high-profile case risks derailing the appeal process with procedural errors or inadequate arguments, potentially wasting the court's time more than funding a lawyer would.
The appeal, which the court was told related to a sentence discount given to Wake, will return to court at a later date.