Judge willing to use weight of the law

By WAYNE THOMPSON

The judge who imposed the highest jail sentence on William Bell also handed out a tough sentence to the man who killed a pizza worker and bank worker last year.

Justice Judith Potter sentenced 18-year-old Ese Junior Falealii last August to life imprisonment for shooting Pakuranga pizza worker Marcus Doig on May 8 and Mangere Bridge ASB bank worker John Vaughan on May 15.

She also imposed one of the longest non-parole sentences for a murder - 17 years and nine months.

Justice Potter said Falealii's crimes warranted a 20-year non-parole sentence but she was obliged to take off two years for his early guilty plea and three months for other reasons.

Justice Potter was also involved in the trial of Canadian fraudster John Davy.

She reduced the previous sentence of the disgraced Maori television head for using a bogus CV from eight months to six months in prison.

Davy had been sentenced in the District Court and had served two weeks in prison when Justice Potter heard his appeal.

She agreed with the District Court judge that the "enormity of the deceit" was a special circumstance justifying imprisonment rather than a suspended sentence.

A former Auckland corporate lawyer, she was the first woman president of the New Zealand Law Society.

Early in her presidency, she publicly defended a High Court judge from an attack by then Minister of Police and now Auckland Mayor John Banks about a sentencing of a three-time gang rapist.

Mr Banks had said that the seven-year sentence - which was half the maximum penalty of the time - was "totally unacceptable from the judiciary in a civilised society".

Judith Potter responded that the appropriate way of appealing a sentence was through the Court of Appeal and not unhelpful criticism from politicians who, after all, made the law which the judges must observe.

"He has delivered a sentence which some would not agree with. But the hard fact is, it is the judge and the judge alone who is responsible."

In March 1997 she was appointed to the High Court bench, capping service to the law and community.

In court she is known for her gracious and direct style.

Longest non-parole periods in NZ history

December 12, 2002: