A top Auckland lawyer has branded as "ludicrous and untrue" claims that he promised to defend for free a Northland farmer charged with shooting at thieves. Barrister Barry Hart successfully defended Paul McIntyre against charges after the farmer shot one of three thieves he caught stealing his quadbike in the deadof night on his isolated Bay of Island farm in October, 2002. Mr McIntyre, 49, was cleared in April of any wrongdoing for shooting a pellet from a shotgun through the neck and shoulder of quadbike thief Sam Hati as he fled in a ute from the Whangape farm. Northland Federated Farmers, in its latest newsletter, stated Mr Hart originally gave the group an undertaking that he would not charge any fees for the defence and had since reneged. But Mr Hart says the claim is ludicrous and simply not true. "Firstly, there was never any agreement that the costs for the legal defence for Mr McIntyre's case against criminal charges, which was successful, would be free, nor was the cost $150,000 (as claimed by Federated Farmers)," Mr Hart said. "Quite simply the allegation is inaccurate and untrue. Why would the Northland Federated Farmers raise money to fund a non-existent bill?" He acknowledged, however, that defending any major criminal proceeding, which in this case included two trials and significant related hearings, with the added cost for the services of senior barrister Antony Shaw (who appeared as well as Mr Hart), was expensive. "In recognition of that, we provided special conditions for Mr McIntyre to settle the account, interest free," Mr Hart said. Northland Federated Farmers stated in its newsletter that it had raised more than $60,000 to go towards Mr McIntyre's costs. "Clearly Northland Federated Farmers went to the public specifically to raise money to assist in paying Mr McIntyre's legal fees after what was a successful, but lengthy, trial to clear his name," Mr Hart said. "To date we have received only a fraction of the total bill and of the money raised by Northland Federated Farmers as payment for our services. Surely payment in some form is evidence that the agreement for free legal counsel is inaccurate." He said that as court proceedings in relation to these matters may be inevitable, further comment on the issue would be inappropriate.
