The victim of a burglary was hustled out of a courtroom and then warned by the judge after she was found clicking off photographs on her cellphone of the three men accused of the crime.
Michael Ryan Newcombe, 24, of Greymouth, Owen Anthony Jackson, 27, of Kumara, and Jonty Charles Pickett, 19, of Christchurch, had been set to defend a joint charge of burglary in Greymouth District Court on Friday.
Judge Tony Couch said given the fact there were three defendants on trial, a whole day would need to be set down for the hearing.
However, while the judge was making arrangements for a future date to be set, lawyer George Linder informed him that the victim of the burglary was taking photos of the accused on her cellphone from the public gallery.
After she had been escorted out of court, and a member of the court security staff had checked that the photo had been deleted from her phone, the judge gave her a dressing down: "Everyone should know that you do not do that -- you could well end up in a cell."
