Qld magistrate wrongly dismissed case

Controversial Queensland magistrate Bernadette Callaghan has been found to have wrongly let a man accused of stealing walk free from court.

Ms Callaghan, who has been publicly criticised for being too "lenient", dismissed a stealing charge against the man and set aside his guilty plea in April.

But on Wednesday a Supreme Court judge found she had failed to follow procedure and has sent the case back to court.

Ms Callaghan had allowed the accused, Rodney Walker, to walk free from her court after he pleaded guilty to stealing a digital video camera from a JB Hi-Fi store in southeast Queensland.

Mr Walker had told the court he didn't take the camera out of the store as he'd put it back on the shelf.

But the police prosecutor argued Mr Walker had completed the act of stealing and had concealed the camera in his clothing after removing its packaging.

In his written judgement, Justice Glenn Martin said Ms Callaghan appeared to have relied on Mr Walker's unsworn statement and was wrong to dismiss the case.

"It is not open to a judge or magistrate, in circumstances such as these, to simply set aside the plea and dismiss the charge," he wrote.

Justice Martin quashed Ms Callaghan's ruling and ordered a plea of not guilty be recorded so the matter could be reheard in the Magistrates Court and determined according to the law.