Pitcairn Island trial creates judge crisis

A judicial "crisis" in Northland has been linked to a high profile sex abuse trial in the Pitcairn Islands.
The Ministry of Justice says three Auckland-based judges presiding over the Pitcairn Island case had created a shortage in the number of judges available to relieve in Whangarei.
Seven men are facing 96 separate charges in two simultaneous hearings on Pitcairn Island - a rocky, forest-clad island 2160km southeast of Tahiti.
The charges, said to include sexual assault and rape and to involve minors, stem from a complaint laid in 1999 by a Pitcairn woman which led to a British investigation.
The trial has meant there are few judges available to relieve in pressured district courts, including Whangarei.
Whangarei has an entitlement of four resident judges but has been operating with three after a judge transferred to Hamilton, the Ministry of Justice general manager for district courts Tony Fisher said.
"In recent weeks the total number of judges available in Auckland Courts has reduced temporarily because of leave and the absence of three judges to the Pitcairn Islands.
"This has impacted on the ability of the Auckland Courts to provide relief for the Whangarei District Court."
The situation had led to court hearings being cancelled and rescheduled.
The ministry regretted the inconvenience but said it was "beyond the control of the ministry".
Usually judicial absences were covered by temporary-warranted judges being brought into the court, Mr Fisher said.
"It has not been possible to do this in this instance as all temporary-warranted judge time has already been allocated to other courts," he said.
Mr Fisher said the situation was "regrettable" but did happen from time to time.
The response has not gone down well with local lawyers who highlighted the cancellations last week and who say the problem has existed for months - not just in the past few weeks.
Dave Sayes and John Day told the Northern Advocate the Whangarei court system was in "crisis".
Urgent action, including allocating an extra judge to the court, was required to stop it reaching exploding point, they said.
Mr Fisher said the ministry was not aware of any plans to increase the number of judges resident at the Whangarei District Court but it did intend to replace the transferred judge.
Mr Day said the ministry's response had said nothing. "It is a sanitised press release," Mr Day said.
"Essentially it is saying nothing and offering no concrete proposals to redress the problems that have manifested as of late," he said.
Mr Sayes said the ministry's response amounted to putting its head in the sand.
"If that is going to be the continued attitude, the inadequate position that we have now is going to continue for a long time," Mr Sayes said.
Mr Fisher said the ministry had developed concept plans for extensions to the courthouse and were in the process of consulting stakeholders.
If the proposed plans were agreed on work was provisionally set to commence in the 2005-06 year, he said.