Judge clears mine protesters

Raoni Hammer (left) and Kristin Gillies on the Solid Energy building in Christchurch in February. Picture / Simon Baker

A judge has cleared two protesters who occupied a mine company building, saying they did not intend to break any other laws.

Judge Stephen Erber dismissed charges against the two Happy Valley coalmine protesters, who staged a protest on the roof of Solid Energy's Christchurch office building in February.

At Christchurch District Court today, Judge Erber ruled that they could not be convicted of being unlawfully on the building when they had no intention of committing "any other offence".

A third protester, Daniel Peter Rae, was convicted because he had already been served with a trespass notice.

He was convicted of trespassing and being unlawfully on the building and was fined $500. He was also ordered to pay $1150 for a barricaded door the police had to smash to get to the roof.

Judge Erber said Rae had three convictions for similar offending, but outside the court Rae said the ruling gave them a lawful way to protest.

"This is an interesting judgment. I'll continue to protest no matter what the judge said in court today. I feel strongly about this issue," he said.

He will pay the penalties in weekly instalments over a few months.

The good-natured trial took just 45 minutes to hear all the evidence and legal argument, and Judge Erber gave his decision later in the day.

He allowed brief statements by each of the defendants when they gave evidence so they could establish they were genuine. "But we are not going to have propaganda," he warned.

Before the court were Rae, 30, a community support worker, Kristin Adrian Gillies, 32, a student and part time disability support worker, and Jan Raoni Hammer, 25, a self-employed arborist.

Chanting

Sergeant Scott Banfield of the police's tactical response group said the group was sent to the building and saw protesters on the footpath singing and chanting, two men hanging from the building and displaying banners, and a third man on the roof.

When he went to the doorway to the roof, he found it was locked. He used a hammer to break a hole and saw the handle was tied and a piece of wood was wedging it closed. He cut the rope and knocked the wood away.

He found Rae on the roof and told the other two to climb back up. They smiled and stayed.

"When I indicated we would come and get them and there may be some risk involved, they complied," he said.

The office manager for Solid Energy, Kimberley Woods, said the protest had disrupted work and some staff had felt intimidated by the people on the roof and those protesting on the footpath in front of the building.

"We accept there are people opposed to the activities we undertake and we accept they have a right to voice their opinions and their opposition, but we don't accept they can come on to our building to do that," she said.

Rae said he accepted that he had been given a trespass notice by police to stay away from the building the previous year. Police produced the notice in court.

All three of the defendants gave evidence that they were there as part of a genuine protest.

Rae said: "We were there to engage in protest activity against Solid Energy's Happy Valley mine on the West Coast. We think open cast mining is incredibly destructive and is going to destroy a pristine ecosystem."

The charges against Gillies and Hammer were dismissed.

- NZPA