escalating violence in our community Become a member of the Sensible Sentencing Trust

Mouseover links or blue arrows below for full page descriptions

What Goes on in our Courts

The following is a letter written by a concerned member of the public who is related to Nicholas Clarkson and has spent some time at the trial of his killers. It gives us an insight into some of what has gone wrong with our justice system, from the viewpoint of a victim.

26 April 2002

To Hon. Phil Goff
C/- Parliament Buildings
Wellington

cc Prime Minister Helen Clark	cc Hon. Winston Peters
cc Attorney General Margaret Wilson	cc Sensible Sentencing Trust
cc Chief Justice Elias	cc Hon. Matt Robson
cc Stephen Franks (ACT)	cc Hon. Wayne Mapp

Dear Mr. Goff

OPERATION QUAY - TRIAL PERTAINING TO MURDER OF NICHOLAS CLARKSON

This letter is to inform you of circumstances existing at the current trial in the highest court in the land for the most serious crime in the land.

At the High Court in Auckland, three people are presently on trial for murdering my nephew, Nicholas Clarkson, who died after being attacked on 27th January 2001.

Our family has waited 15 months to see the perpetrators of this heinous crime brought before their peers, believing that we would see a decent hearing carried out in a respectable and professional manner. Instead of having this satisfaction, we have been grieved to witness a haphazard fiasco that could not possibly be deemed a decent hearing by even the most liberal thinkers.

Our perhaps naïve understanding of the court system was that when the judge accepted the responsibility of presiding over the trial which was set down for six weeks, the case would continue uninterrupted for the full period rather than become a shamefully piece-meal circus. I describe it thus because of the following:

1. Monday 8th April (first day in court) Jury empanelled : This took place in the morning and there were fifteen challenges by the defence. There were only two challenges by the Crown. Later, in the afternoon, opening addresses were heard.
2. Tuesday April 9th : One juror was absent because of a sick child. A second juror failed to report. Therefore there was no court that day.
3. Wednesday 10th April : Debate on jury numbers, a warrant was issued for the arrest of absentee juror and the court finally started that day at 4.15pm - for one hour!
4. Thursday April 11th : Before court could start, we had to wait for another case to finish in our courtroom. Then, we had to wait for the judge to sentence the juror who had failed to appear. Finally the trial recommenced just prior to lunch.
5. Friday April 12 : No court : judge had prior commitments.
6. Monday April 15 : No court : judge had prior commitments
7. Tuesday April 16 : First full day for the court in this trial.
8. Wednesday April 17 : Second full day in court in this trial.
9. Thursday April 18 : Half a day in court : judge had prior commitments
10. Friday April 19 : No court : judge had prior commitments.
11. Monday April 22 : No court : judge had prior commitments.
12. Tuesday April 23 : No court : juror away sick.
13. Wednesday April 24 : Third full day in court in this trial.
14. Thursday 25 : No court : Anzac Day.
15. Friday 26 : No court : Juror away and a warrant issued for arrest of a witness.

The above events are causing several problems apart from the obvious ones of inconvenience to witnesses, notwithstanding our family who live in Christchurch. Surely you must agree that this irresponsible and inefficient conduct on the part of the judiciary is encouraging those accused to have even less respect for the law than they have already. The judge appears to be obsessively and excessively lenient on the jury at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars to the innocent tax-payer.

Let me now tell you how our family is being further distressed by the behaviour of the judge and some members of the jury. In fact the whole trial is being controlled by the attendance or non-attendance, of the jury. We find that the judge's attitude is casual and nonchalant - he has not stamped his authority over the court in a serious manner. He has allowed small children, even babies who have cried, to be present in his courtroom. Supporters of the accused have turned their seats around to put their feet up on other seats without any rebuke from the bench!

One juror walked to her seat sipping a MacDonald's milkshake - the same juror dropped off to sleep on Wednesday 24th which the judge didn't even notice. A detective notified the Crown prosecutor and the court Registrar gave the woman a glass of water. She fell asleep once again. One other juror, a man, also dozed off and this was not noticed by the judge either. This is not treating my nephew's untimely death with the seriousness and the respect it deserves.

Tipene Halford, one of the accused, telephoned a friend of his within the last week, knowing she was a witness due to appear any day. The Crown literally had to drag this information out of the witness but she finally admitted to the Court that she had been contacted by Tipene Halford, at which time he discussed the watch, one of the key pieces of evidence against him. The judge did nothing about this shameful disclosure.

On Wednesday of this week the judge accommodated a defence counsel twice within 40 minutes, allowing him time to be directed by his client. The court was cleared during these times - yet soon after that, he denied an application from the Crown to declare a certain witness "hostile". Shortly after that, he recognised that the witness was behaving in a deliberately obstructive manner and suggested that the Crown might be invited to re-present the application of "hostile witness" at a later time. Now, this same witness has had a warrant issued against him for not appearing this morning - yet the judge did not recognise him as a hostile witness on Wednesday!

Had the judge forgotten how serious murder is? When one witness who came from Ireland for this trial was in the stand, the judge asked questions about his country and when the witness left the stand joking that he was "off to have a Guinness" the judge laughed with him. How sick! In case he has forgotten, murder is a dreadful, dreadful crime and there is no room for any flippancy or levity.

There is one very important point I must make on behalf of Nicholas's mother Lin, father Fred, sister Toni-Jean and the rest of my family, and that is to say clearly how magnificent the police and Crown prosecutors have been in supporting our family and how professionally they have conducted themselves throughout our ordeal. A pity the judge can't emulate them.

It has long been rumoured that courtrooms are no longer the places they once were. Witnesses and accused are permitted to dress down and speak to the court in any manner they please, but if this status quo continues, New Zealand will join with the likes of Zimbabwe in having a third world justice system where the criminals rule supreme.

Our family fears a travesty of justice is unfolding before our eyes. We are asking you to order some respectability and discipline into this trial. I look forward to hearing from you outlining your intended action in this matter.

Yours sincerely

Judy Wheal (aunt of Nicholas Clarkson).