Urewera 15 trial unlikely to start this month - report

Tuhoe activist Tama Iti is one of three accused who have requested Te reo interpreters for trial. Photo / Ben Fraser

The trial of 15 people arrested after police raids in 2007 at alleged training camps in the Urewera Ranges appears unlikely to go ahead at the end of this month.

The trial which was set down to start in the High Court at Auckland on May 30 may be delayed until next year, crown lawyers say.

The Supreme Court last week granted leave to the accused to appeal earlier High Court and Court of Appeal rulings that their case be heard by a judge alone rather than a judge and jury and over the admissibility of some evidence.

But, yesterday the Supreme Court issued a minute which said it was not able to decide on the admissibility of evidence before the trial's start date, The Dominion Post reported

"There's very little prospect of a trial proceeding on May 30 as far as I can see," prosecutor Ross Burns told the newspaper.

"Unless something extraordinary is done then, in the ordinary course of events, it's unlikely that the trial would [be held] before the end of the year."

The trial was estimated to take three months.

The accused face firearms charges and five of them face charges of participating in an organised criminal group.

- NZPA