Lack of judges puts court in crisis, says MP

A "crisis" at Whangarei courthouse that has led to criminal charges being dropped because of the lack of judges is to be raised in Parliament by National's law and order spokesman, Tony Ryall.

Mr Ryall says he is shocked and angry that his prediction last August that criminals would walk free from Whangarei courthouse because of the backlog of cases has now proven true and he wants to know why his warnings were not heeded.

His warning was backed in September by Whangarei lawyers Dave Sayes and John Day, who said the courthouse was in crisis because there were not enough judges to reduce the long waits people faced before their cases were heard.

This month, a repeat drink-driver facing a possible jail sentence walked free because of the continued delays at Whangarei courthouse, prompting Mr Ryall to pledge that he will raise the issue in Parliament.

Kevin Phillip Hedges, 46, has eight drink-driving convictions and was facing the possibility of a ninth until his latest charge, and an accompanying one of driving while disqualified, were thrown out of the Whangarei District Court on April 1.

Hedges turned up in court three times in the past nine months, only to be told twice that a judge was not available to hear his case and once that the officer in charge was ill.

Judge Barbara Morris dismissed the charges, saying the delay had brought the Whangarei courthouse and the court process into disrepute.

Mr Ryall said the judge was also saying "that this is not a rarity. This is exactly what I have been saying for the last two years - there are just not enough resources there to keep on top of the workload in Northland. There needs to be more judges up there urgently".

"The consequences of not having enough are that people are not having their cases dealt with fairly, which is a real cause for alarm in the justice system."

He said the real losers in the crisis would be the victims of crime who would be violated again if the offender got off because of delays.

"It seems the Government is more interested in dealing with noisy minorities than providing an effective, working justice system," Mr Ryall said.

Justice Department operations chief Liz Sinclair said the number of judges resident in Whangarei was down temporarily because one had transferred to Hamilton at the end of last year.

A replacement judge had now been appointed and would be sworn in at the end of this month, Ms Sinclair said.

But Mr Sayes said more judges were needed now and he predicted more lawyers would be making similar applications for their clients because of the delays.

- NZPA