Justice delayed: Long waits for court trials in Hamilton
Hamilton crimes are often taking more than a year to reach trial, and defence lawyers say that’s bad for all involved.
The wait isn’t a symptom of Covid, those behind the district court system say, but rather the courts’ increasing and complex workloads.
Over recent months, Stuff has heard a judge apologise to defendants in Hamilton District Court for trial dates more than a year away, and lawyers saying firm trial dates are well into 2022.
Even at the end of November, Hamil- ton District Court’s most distant trial was scheduled for February next year – a 14-month wait. At the city’s high court, it was a bit sooner: September this year.
Wait times seem to be getting worse, Hamilton defence lawyer Roger Laybourn said. ‘‘It’s a very hard problem to solve ... But delays are bad for everyone. They’re bad for the victims. They’re bad for everyone.’’
Covid backed things up for a while, but Laybourn thinks Criminal Procedure Act is the main cause of delays. It was meant to make court more efficient but added more steps and bureaucratic box ticking, Laybourn said.
He’s also noticed the wait times for judge-alone trials getting closer to jury trial wait times – it used to be a much faster option. There are about 270 cases awaiting jury trial in Hamilton District Court at any given time, according to the Office of the Chief District Court Judge, Judge Heemi Taumaunu.
The ones to be concerned about are those which ‘‘exceed ideal timeframes’’, the judge wrote in the 2020 District Court annual report. ‘‘In this regard, the District Court has some catching up to do, a challenge that pre-existed Covid-19 and is caused largely by an increase in the volumes, seriousness and complexity of cases entering the court.’’
‘‘Delays in getting to court potentially mean delays to recovery from trauma, to healing, and to justice.’’
Dr Petrina Hargrave
Victim Support
Waits aren’t just in Hamilton – surrounding cities’ courts also had trials scheduled a year or more out.
In November last year, the furtherest-out trial at the High Court at Rotorua was for February 2022.
Rotorua and Tauranga District Courts had less of a wait, with the most distant trials scheduled for a year later, in November.
Waiting is also difficult for victims and Victim Support says the longer the delay, the bigger the impact.
It can be an uncertain and anxious time, spokesperson Dr Petrina Hargrave said in a statement
‘‘Delays in getting to court potentially mean delays to recovery from trauma, to healing, and to justice. In some cases, victims’ safety may be put at risk if the defendant is out in the community rather than on remand.’’
Judges do their level best, defence lawyer Len Caley said, and he’s seen some have 20 hours of hearings scheduled in a day.
He’d also heard of a man whose trial fell over on five occasions – his charges were eventually dropped. ‘‘There are only so many judges,’’ defence lawyer James Gurnick said. ‘‘There are only so many courtrooms. And there are only so many trials that can be set down.’’
Hamilton lawyers had heard dates for more complex trials likely to last a week or more would probably be in 2023, he said. A concern is some on remand may spend more time in custody awaiting trial than if they had pleaded guilty and been sentenced, he said.
Issues in the court reflect society, defence counsel Kerry Burroughs said – though he wasn’t really facing long waits for his clients. Crime rates aren’t going down, he said, and many face addiction issues, abandonment issues, or have been sexually offended against. ‘‘The problems that the courts are experiencing come out of the social policies we just don’t get right.’’