Private prosecution of court registrar dismissed

File photo / NZ Herald

A private prosecution against a Court of Appeal registrar has been dismissed by a District Court judge today.

The prosecution was brought by Graham McCready, who in court documents alleged Court of Appeal registrar Clare O'Brien committed common assault and conspired to bring false accusation. However, at the Auckland District Court today he conceded that may not have been the case.

Ms O'Brien's lawyer John Billington said the private prosecution stemmed from an incident in September 2013 when Richard Creser, acting on behalf of Vincent Siemer, was attempting to serve papers on his client.

Creser did so by shoving the papers in Ms O'Brien's handbag as she was attempting to enter work through a side door at the court in Wellington, Mr Billington said.

Creser then grabbed Ms O'Brien's arm in an attempt to turn her around so he could take a photo of her, which was when she pushed him away, he said.

The incident was witnessed by another Ministry of Justice employee, Mr Billington said.

Ms O'Brien's version of events was backed up by the findings of a Porirua District Court judge, who in February found Creser guilty of assault and later sentenced him to 100 hours' community work.

Creser then appealed against his conviction at the High Court, which dismissed the appeal.

Mr Billington today asked Auckland District Court Judge Grant Fraser to dismiss the charges brought by Mr McCready, saying two judges had already found that Ms O'Brien had not assaulted Creser, rather she was the one who was assaulted.

"To allow the matter to proceed would be an abuse of process," Mr Billington said.

Mr McCready said his client was simply trying to serve papers on Ms O'Brien. However, in light of the Porirua District Court and High Court judges' findings, he said that the private prosecution was futile.

He told the court that when he heard Siemer was involved in the case it caused "alarm bells" to ring. "It was bound to end badly."

"I won't waste your time any more," Mr McCready said to Judge Fraser, accepting that the charges must be dismissed.

Judge Fraser said two judges before him had already found that Ms O'Brien was not the aggressor, "but simply responding to an assault on her" and subsequently dismissed the charges.