Assault trial aborted

lol

There is an old fart called Ant,
About Coppers he loves to rant.
He’s a silly old fool
A real fcuken tool
His brain is not a giant

The spiking of this charge has had one of two adverse effects. If the accused would have been found guilty, that may have been some comfort to the family of the victim. They lose that. But, if he would have been acquitted (and the fact that police charge someone does not mean that person is guilty or will be found guilty), he may have recovered some of his reputation. And he lost that. Overall unsatisfactory.

DJ – The appeal/review options would be pretty limited. But the decision was one that was probably open to His Honour. Gyles J, by the way, is a judge of considerable experience (appointed after a stellar careeer) and his judgments seem pretty safe and reasonable (on the ones I have read). He is a Federal Court judge who is one of a number described as “additional judges” of the ACT Supreme Court. They are appointed under s 4A of the Supreme Court Act by the Executove (Government) of the ACT.

A judge has a very high level of protection from dismissal, and there are good reasons for that in terms of judicial independence. Dismissals are pretty rare and usually follow a substantial criminal conviction (although one was considered in the case of Bruce J of the NSW Supreme Court, who was notoriously slow due to a psychological codition). Judges are accountable for the judicial actions only to the law and those courts that review their decisions.

In their defence, they do run “numerous” cases at the same time in high volumes. Mistakes can happen and they are only human.

But won’t there be a retrial?

What were the other options – delay for 6 weeks?

If they had gone ahead, would this lack of a witness have caused a loophole the defence could have used to get the trial aborted anyway – if they didn’t like the result??

I can’t just really get past the fact that the DPP should have managed to remember to call their witness in plenty of time.

The victim has no rights ???? apparently.