The Herald reports that the "Urewera 18" are to be denied the right to a trial by jury (actually this was kind of big news last year, or should have been, but the media largely ignored the story).
The Court of Appeal yesterday upheld the decision of the High Court in December ruling that the trials would take place in front of a judge only.
In a bizarre twist, a suppression order exists, so that reasons for the decision cannot be given.
To be tried before one's peers is a right that should be taken away from a defendant facing serious charges in only the rarest of cases. It seems almost abhorrent to justice that we aren't even allowed to know the reason why this time.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
3 comments:
I welcome comments, but I ask commenters to follow a few simple rules:
1. I delete anonymous comments. Please use either a name or moniker. I am not asking anyone to reveal their secret identity. Just don't call yourself "Anonymous".
2. Please don't abuse or defame others.
3. Moronic or nonsensical comments may be deleted.
4. I don't often exercise the heavy hand of censorship, but I do reserve the right to delete any comment I don't like, for any reason.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
My question is, Where would you find a jury that could sit on a 12 week trial ?
ReplyDeleteOnly the unemployed would really be able to do this, I can imagine what the response from even my very resonable employers would be if I were picked.
I too read that yesterday -- and looked for this decision but its not on the CA website -
ReplyDeleteIts also not on Brookers.
Have you viewed a copy?
the decision has been released under
ReplyDeleteHamed Ors v R on the courts of new zealand website