- Justice delayed
- Herald Sun
- 08/11/2003 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: admin ( 75 articles in 2003 )
THE legal system this week finally gave Pauline Hanson a fair go. But along the way it failed her miserably.
Ms Hanson and her One Nation colleague David Ettridge spent 78 nights in jail for "crimes" which the Queensland Court of Appeal has now found they did not commit.
Many people find it inexcusable that the pair were refused bail three times while they awaited the appeal.
The view that this was a denial of natural justice is reinforced by the unequivocal finding of the Appeal Court that the evidence did not support the basis of the prosecution case.
Chief Justice Paul de Jersey said there was no easy answer to why it had taken a lengthy trial and an appeal at vast public expense to clear the pair.
Ms Hanson would be justified in replying with her now famous "please explain".
The same naivety and lack of political nous that led the pair into the mess also hamstrung their defence.
But Chief Justice de Jersey made it clear that neither the prosecution nor the defence had been up to scratch.
Despite the conspiracy theorists, Pauline Hanson's downfall did not need a political witchhunt. All it took was a serious failure of the legal system.
https://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/printpage/0,5481,7797906,00.html
Ms Hanson and her One Nation colleague David Ettridge spent 78 nights in jail for "crimes" which the Queensland Court of Appeal has now found they did not commit.
Many people find it inexcusable that the pair were refused bail three times while they awaited the appeal.
The view that this was a denial of natural justice is reinforced by the unequivocal finding of the Appeal Court that the evidence did not support the basis of the prosecution case.
Chief Justice Paul de Jersey said there was no easy answer to why it had taken a lengthy trial and an appeal at vast public expense to clear the pair.
Ms Hanson would be justified in replying with her now famous "please explain".
The same naivety and lack of political nous that led the pair into the mess also hamstrung their defence.
But Chief Justice de Jersey made it clear that neither the prosecution nor the defence had been up to scratch.
Despite the conspiracy theorists, Pauline Hanson's downfall did not need a political witchhunt. All it took was a serious failure of the legal system.
https://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/printpage/0,5481,7797906,00.html
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