KEY POINTS:
The lawyer for Jayden Headley's mother Kay Skelton claims the Family Court judgments released yesterday will prevent her getting a fair trial - but the Principal Family Court Judge Peter Boshier today defended the move.
Skelton, who had spent three months in prison on contempt of court for
refusing to reveal Jayden's whereabouts, is facing a kidnapping charge but has indicated she will fight for custody of her six-year-old son.
In a rare move, court decisions from the lengthy custody battle were released yesterday.
Judge Boshier said the three judges who made decisions in the case had agreed to have the decisions published because of the high degree of public prominence and because of the issues the case raised.
He defended his decision today and said the same approach was likely to be taken on occasion in future.
He said: "Where the public interest clearly requires such details to be published, particularly in cases where parties have already identified themselves and their children, it is likely that unanonymised judgments will be made available.
"As I have said previously, where a case is put into the public domain, and the process of the Family Court is under scrutiny, I will always look at making available judgements, so as to ensure that the facts are before the public".
He confirmed that it was the first time such a move had been taken since the Care of Children Act came into force.
But Skelton's lawyer Barry Hart said earlier today that he was astonished at the decision to release the documents and said his client was very upset.
"What the Family Court has now done is release material that will prejudice our right to a fair trial," Mr Hart told National Radio.
An example of this was the revelation according to the court documents that Jayden was previously "abducted" to Australia, by his mother.
"How on earth is she to get a fair trial? Why on earth should the Family Court release this?" he said.
"To what extent is that really going to benefit anybody? It certainly won't benefit the child.
"It's completely one-sided, it has nothing positive about my client and she's the one that spent three months in custody, she's the one that is yet to have a trial and in my view she won't get a fair trial."
Mr Hart said he should have been given notice so he could apply to the High Court to prevent the release of the documents.
He said that as a result of the release of the decisions and the media attention on them he would be putting a motion in to have the charges against his client dismissed as she would never get a fair trial.
Mr Hart said Dick Headley, who like his daughter is facing a kidnap charge, was also prejudiced by release of the documents.
"I can't undo it, what I can do is say 'right, well if the court permits this to happen then there might well be a consequence down the track"'.
Releasing the documents without giving the parties an opportunity to be heard breached the Bill of Rights and the principles of natural justice, he said.
Jayden disappeared from Hamilton Central Library in August. He was missing for five months, believed to be on the run with his maternal grandfather Dick Headley.
Headley is now in custody on kidnapping charges after handing Jayden over to police on Tuesday.
- NZPA, NZHERALD STAFF
