A New South Wales magistrate facing a misconduct hearing has conceded she made mistakes, but was dealing with a "tsunami"-sized workload at the time.
Port Macquarie magistrate Dominique Burns is appearing before the Judicial Commission in Sydney after being suspended in June last year.
She is accused of remanding alleged offenders in custody without following proper process and inappropriately trying to suggest further charges be laid.
Counsel assisting the commission Kristina Stern SC told the hearing that on one occasion, Ms Burns ordered a man be placed in the dock, "to give him a bit of a scare".
In another case, described by Ms Stern as the "clearest possible example" of a judicial officer acting inappropriately, Ms Burns is alleged to have suggested a police prosecutor pursue further charges against an accused offender.
"In many instances the accused were vulnerable members of the community," Ms Stern told the hearing.
"Actual injustice can be seen to have been occasioned as a result of her honour's conduct."
Ms Burns' lawyer, Arthur Moses SC, told the hearing the magistrate did not deny she had made mistakes but that they had to be examined, "through the prism of what was a crushing workload".
He said there were already more than 1,000 cases pending when Ms Burns started in Port Macquarie in 2016 and she did not receive the support she needed.
"That can be described as a tsunami, not just a huge caseload," Mr Moses said.
He said Ms Burns was suffering from mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. He said that was an explanation for her conduct, not an excuse.
Judicial officers in NSW can only be sacked if both houses of State Parliament decide they should be removed.
The commission will consider whether Ms Burns' conduct warrants a report to Parliament or to the Chief Magistrate.
