Legal aid in Glassies case costs nearly $700k

Legal aid for those involved in the Nia Glassie case cost the taxpayer $662,391, a report said today.

Parliament's justice select committee revealed the cost in a report on the Legal Services Authority.

Wiremu Curtis and his brother Michael were sentenced at the High Court in Rotorua on February 4 to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17-1/2 years for the murder of the three-year-old girl in August 2007.

Wiremu Curtis is now appealing the conviction. Nia's mother, Lisa Kuka, 35, was sentenced to nine years for manslaughter, while Nia's cousin Michael Pearson, 20 and Michael Curtis' partner Oriwa Kemp, 18, were sentenced to three years and three years and four months respectively for wilful ill treatment.

The court heard Nia suffered months of misery. She was kicked in the head, put in a clothes drier which was turned on, had wrestling moves performed on her and was flung off a clothesline before her short life ended in Starship Hospital in August 2007.

Information provided by the agency said:

* Client A who was charged with murder, manslaughter and other offences had a total of $162,000 on legal aid involving a lead provider ($97,991) and a junior counsel ($62,963);

* Client B, charges included murder and wilfully ill-treating a child, $89,818 on one lawyer;

* Client C, charged with manslaughter $120,540 for two lawyers;

* Client D, charges included manslaughter and wilfully ill-treating a child, $142,735 on two lawyers; and

* Client E, charges included manslaughter and wilfully ill-treating a child, $148,000 for two lawyers.

The agency said multiple defendant trials often required separate counsel for the defendants due to conflicts of interest.

Junior counsel were approved for a range of reasons including the length of the case, the large number of disclosures, exhibits and witnesses, and the "intellectual issues to consider for some of the accused".

The report said the agency had received 83,767 applications for legal aid in 2007/2008, a 5.5 per cent increase on the previous year.

- NZPA