Trespass case win

A Nelson lawyer has overturned a trespass notice against him attending Nelson College board meetings, despite a judge agreeing his behaviour was ‘‘extraordinarily immature’’.

Lawyer John Fitchett said the High Court decision would allow him to attend board meetings ‘‘in an ongoing attempt to make the board abide by the law’’.

The decision is the latest in a long-running dispute that involved the dismissal of John Fitchett’s brother Steve from his role as a teacher and sports coach at the college in April last year.

The college later accepted the dismissal was unfair. John Fitchett began attending board meetings and filed a complaint over the conduct of headmaster Gary O’Shea in the case.

Board members said his presence at meetings was disruptive, alleging his behaviour amounted to bullying and showed he had a ‘‘vendetta’’ against O’Shea. Fitchett has denied having any vendetta.

The issue reached a head in March last year when the board banned audio recordings of its meetings. Fitchett placed a dictaphone in front of him and would not answer questions about whether it was off or on. The meeting was adjourned. After a similar stand-off a week later, the board banned Fitchett from college buildings for two years.

Fitchett said he failed to understand how he could be described as having a ‘‘bullying presence’’ if he was silent and effectively motionless.

In his decision, Justice Thomas said the college could not legally issue a trespass notice to effectively prohibit Fitchett’s attendance at future board meetings.

The Trespass Act in the context of board meetings could only be used to require a disruptive person to leave the meeting, not the building.

However, Justice Thomas said Fitchett’s behaviour was ‘‘provocative, disorderly and to use the words of Justice Williams (from an earlier hearing) ‘frankly extraordinarily immature for a man of Mr Fitchett’s standing, age and profession’.

The evidence shows he deliberately disregarded the authority of the board.’’

In a statement yesterday, Fitchett welcomed the decision but he was disappointed that the judge described his placement of a dictaphone on a table as ‘‘disorderly’’ and ‘‘immature’’. ‘‘I put the dictaphone there as a silent protest to the board acting unlawfully,’’ he said.

Fitchett said the board had ‘‘recklessly’’ incurred legal fees of substantially more than $250,000 in four failed cases related to the employment issues.

Nelson College board of trustees chairman Dennis Christian said the board was surprised by the judgement and would comment further later.