Judge rejects crash costs claim

A bid for $250,000 for defence costs in the Ansett Flight 703 manslaughter trial of pilot Gary Norman Sotheran has been rejected by the High Court.

Mr Sotheran was acquitted on all charges after a seven-week trial in Palmerston North last year.

Mr Sotheran was flying the Dash-8 airliner which crashed in rain and fog on a hillside south of the Manawatu Gorge in 1995. Four people died.

Justice Warwick Gendall's reserved decision on the application for costs referred extensively to delays and obstacles put in the way of the police by sectors of the aviation industry.

The judge noted that the application for costs was in effect made by the Airline Pilots' Association (Alpa), not Mr Sotheran, who left New Zealand last June.

"It is obvious to me this application is, in truth, made by Alpa for reimbursement of expenses it incurred and for which it has not received insurance indemnification," said Justice Gendall.

No affidavit was filed by Mr Sotheran supporting the claim and the judge said he did not know Mr Sotheran's position on the issue.

The application sought $250,000, the amount Alpa says it contributed to Mr Sotheran's costs over and above its $500,000 litigation insurance cover.

Justice Gendall said there was no suggestion in the application of bad faith on the part of the police in bringing the prosecution.

Indeed, it was abundantly clear that police acted properly and in good faith on a Transport Accident Investigation Commission report which pointed, at the very least, to shortcomings in the performance of Mr Sotheran, he said.

The judge rejected the suggestion that the prosecution was brought with insufficient evidence to support the charges.

He also rejected claims about the six years it took to get the case to court.

He noted that Mr Sotheran had not made any formal statement to police until March 2000, and the charges were laid little more than three weeks later.

The judge referred to the blocking of police access to the cockpit voice recorder - a matter which went to the Court of Appeal - when "Alpa and Mr Sotheran had access to that material from day one".

He also referred to police problems in obtaining relevant advice and opinions from experienced pilots, and obstacles put in the way of police attempts to talk to air traffic controllers.

"I am satisfied that a fair inference can be drawn that commercial pilots in New Zealand were unwilling to criticise or express views to the police ... which were adverse to Mr Sotheran," he said.

"In my view the prosecution was properly brought, carefully investigated and ably presented, and no criticism can be directed at the police or the Crown, despite efforts to do so on some occasions by those speaking publicly on behalf of Mr Sotheran."

Justice Gendall said high cost was inevitable in a long and complex trial. He was satisfied "by a wide margin" that there should be no award of costs.

- NZPA