KEY POINTS:
An attempted murder trial which went longer than expected was aborted last week because the judge was due to head overseas.
The trial in the High Court in Auckland of two defendants charged with attempted murder, wounding with intent, assault with a weapon and causing grievous bodily harm
was originally set down for five days.
But it extended well into a second week, and Justice Judith Potter chose to abort the trial because she was due to leave on Good Friday for a conference in Panama, followed by a six-week trip around South America.
It means a new trial will be held next year, costing thousands to the taxpayer and in legal fees for the defendants, the Sunday News reported.
Senior judicial communications adviser Neil Billington blamed lawyers' incorrect predictions for the trial's early ending.
"Undoubtedly, the main problem was that counsel under-estimated how long it would take to hear the case and that it ran over into virtually double the time provided and still had not been concluded," he said.
Justice Potter's "sabbatical leave arrangements" were made "many months ago", Mr Billington said. He said her attendance at the conference was paid for by the ministry, though Justice Potter paid for the airfares.
Legal Services Agency spokesman Mark Scott said he was astonished at the decision.
"Frankly I'm astonished a judge is going away and so a case has been aborted like this."
Auckland University law Professor Mike Taggart said he had not heard of such a situation before.
"That is probably because in other cases judges have quite disgruntledly changed their plans. Maybe in this case she couldn't change them," he said.
Prof Taggart said everyone was entitled to their holidays and "the judge is probably not feeling great about this."
Justice Potter was the first woman to be president of the Auckland District Law Society and the New Zealand Law Society before she was admitted as a High Court judge in 1997, where she has been involved in several high-profile cases.
Justice Potter also sentenced businessman Vince Siemer last year to six weeks in prison for publishing allegations against Vector chairman and insolvency expert Michael Stiassny in breach of a court order.
She was also the judge in the last year's trial of former assistant police commissioner Clint Rickards, Bob Schollum and Brad Shipton, who were found not guilty of sex charges against a Rotorua teenager in the 1980s.
- NZPA
