Bennett ready to wait in jail
A man charged with $250,000 fraud has been incarcerated for nearly five years without a trial. By choice. Martin van Beynen reports.
Paul James Bennett will spend his fifth Christmas behind bars. There’s nothing unusual in that except he is not a sentenced prisoner and is still awaiting trial.
Justice moves slowly but Bennett, who is facing fraud charges involving about $250,000, is an extraordinary case.
He believes the fraud prosecution (and other charges) should be stayed because, according to him, he was removed illegally from Australia, where he allegedly fled in 2015. That issue, including appeals, must be dealt with before his fraud trial. Had he simply gone ahead with his fraud trial, he would in all likelihood be a free man by now, even if found guilty.
But Bennett is a man of principle.
The helicopter pilot, who once had Hollywood star Russell Crowe in his chopper, was arrested in Sydney in February 2015, after sailing a stolen yacht across the Tasman with his then partner Simone Wright. Police had been trying to find him for several years so they could arrest him on the fraud charges and an alleged sexual assault on a teenage girl in Auckland in 2008.
Bennett, who arrived in Sydney without a passport, was kept in custody until he was escorted back to Christchurch in May 2016. Police were waiting for him and, due to his flight risk status, he was remanded in custody.
He then began a battle to show his return to New Zealand was illegal, claiming Australian and New Zealand police had colluded to circumvent his rights to leave Australia under his own volition. He had talked about going to Indonesia or Canada.
After a hearing in the Christchurch District Court in July, Judge Paul Kellar ruled the Australian authorities were entitled to remove Bennett under the relevant Australian legislation as an ‘‘unlawful non-citizen’’. New Zealand police had not brought about his removal and the fact they treated him as a ‘‘returning offender’’ did not render their actions unlawful.
Bennett’s lawyer, Simon Shamy, said Bennett would appeal Judge Kellar’s ruling in the High Court and he was in the process of applying for legal aid.
Bennett could have been a free man by now but he was prepared to stay in jail to fight for a principle, Shamy said.
‘‘He has effectively served a 10-year jail sentence because he would be eligible for parole after serving a third.’’
The delays in the case were ‘‘a little surprising’’, but the case was complex and required
Bennett’s lawyer obtaining information from multiple parties in several jurisdictions. Some of the delays were systemic in that the country had too few District Court judges and matters like Bennett’s did not have top priority.
Shamy said his involvement in the case was recent and previously Bennett had represented himself and had another lawyer.
A supporter told the Sunday Star-Times that Bennett was not responsible for delaying his fraud trial.
He claimed, she said, the Crown had caused delays by opposing his applications seeking disclosure of email evidence between the authorities in Australia and New Zealand. Other delays were due to judges and lawyers going on leave, she said.
‘‘Paul has evidence of a number of other people this [alleged illegal extradition] has happened to. He suggests the police are going behind the justice minister’s back in regard to these extraditions in a secret policy. I feel it is unacceptable that anyone should be in custody for threeand-a-half years when taking such proceedings against police.’’
A police spokesperson said the proceedings against Bennett were ‘‘unable to progress while a stay of proceedings filed by the defendant was waiting to be heard’’.
‘‘That stay of proceedings has now been heard and dismissed, and the matter is now before the courts. As such police are not in a position to comment further.’’
Criminal Bar Association president Len Andersen said the Bennett case sounded unusual, but spending five years behind bars on remand was ‘‘extraordinary’’.
Twenty per cent of sentenced defendants were now released immediately because they had already served the sentence through time spent in jail on remand.
The delays meant some defendants pleaded guilty just to get a speedier resolution. Sometimes delays were caused by defendants, such as when they changed lawyers constantly.
‘He has effectively served a 10-year jail sentence because he would be eligible for parole after serving a third.’’ Simon Shamy