Douglas John Winning

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Douglas John Winning, a Rockhampton solicitor of nearly 30 years, faced three charges before QCAT. Charge 1 arose from his conviction for official corruption after offering cash to police during a drink-driving stop; Charge 2 concerned running a defence at a rape trial that contradicted his client's instructions, leading to a quashed conviction; Charge 3 concerned a threatening and offensive email intended for the DPP. The Tribunal found professional misconduct on Charges 1 and 2 and unsatisfactory professional conduct on Charge 3. Given his prior disciplinary history and the seriousness of the conduct, the Tribunal found him permanently unfit to practise and recommended removal from the roll, plus standard costs. No express finding of dishonesty was made, though the Tribunal noted a lack of trustworthiness and integrity.

Duties found breached:

• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Prior disciplinary history including multiple findings of professional misconduct/unsatisfactory professional conduct (2008, 2015, 2017)
• Charge 3 conduct repeated similar offensive/discourteous conduct found in earlier disciplinary matters
• Conduct undermined the administration of criminal justice and demonstrated preparedness to flout the law

Mitigating factors:

• Respondent consented to removal from the roll and did not oppose the orders sought
• Apologised for the email sent out of frustration