Court delays allow 38 accused to walk free, says National

By KEVIN TAYLOR, Political Reporter


The National Party says a rising number of outstanding district court criminal cases has resulted in 38 people charged with crimes including rape and manufacturing drugs walking free in the past four years.

The number of outstanding cases in the district courts has risen 32 per cent to 32,000 since 1999, but Attorney-General Margaret Wilson told Parliament yesterday that was because more police were prosecuting more cases.

She said the number of criminal cases before the district courts in September was 32,359, compared to 24,578 waiting on September 30, 1999.

Ms Wilson said the Government was reviewing the courts system, including its resourcing.

But National police spokesman Tony Ryall tabled in the House a list of 38 court cases where offenders had walked free in the last four years without trial because they had taken too long to get through the system.

The cases included people charged with sex attacks, drug offences, dishonesty charges and driving offences.

Ms Wilson, answering for Courts Minister Rick Barker, said she did not know about the specific cases to which Mr Ryall was referring.

"But my understanding is that often cases are not heard in a timely fashion for a variety of reasons."

She said those reasons included the fact that often lawyers - defence or prosecution - were not prepared enough to proceed with a case.

However, Ms Wilson said she did believe "we should do better".

Asked why there were more cases, she said the Government had increased the number of police officers by nearly 10 per cent over the past three years.

The increase in cases "demonstrates this Government is serious about combating crime".

Mr Ryall said later that the Law Commission had suggested the courts system was suffering from a "gross lack of resources".

"Criminal lawyers and prosecutors are increasingly frustrated at the length of time it takes to get cases through this clogged system."

He said victims of crime deserved justice, and criminals should be quickly removed from society.

The convener of the Law Society's criminal law committee, Philip Morgan, QC, said last night that he believed the complexity of cases was responsible for the delays.

Dumped cases

* 12 for dishonesty

* 10 traffic

* 4 violence

* 4 sexual

* 5 drugs

* 3 other