A conflict of interest has resulted in a Wanganui lawyer being censured and having to refund more than $6000 in legal fees.
The lawyer - who cannot be named for legal reasons - was found guilty of unsatisfactory conduct by the Wanganui Standards Committee of the New Zealand Law Society. The complaint was laid by a Marton man the lawyer was representing in a Family Court issue involving his stepdaughter.
At the same time the lawyer was representing the stepfather, and was also acting for a 27-year-old man accused of sexual offences against the stepdaughter.
The stepfather says he only found out about the lawyer's dual role when he attended Whanganui District Court to see the sex offender being sentenced.
The offender was sentenced to more than two years' jail after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual connection with a young person - the girl was 15 at the time - meeting a young person following sexual grooming, and indecent exposure. The lawyer was assigned to act for the sex offender in January 2012, the same month they were instructed to represent the stepfather in the Family Court over proceedings involving his stepdaughter, the police and Child Youth and Family.