Ross Meurant: For Justice To Be Served

Gina Lollobrigida once said: “We are all born to die, the difference is the intensity with which we choose to live.”

Machiavelli said: “Fortune (luck) rules only half a man’s life; The other half being their will.”

Born equal as we may be, it’s how one performs as one wanders through this odyssey called life, that determines our fate.

Ross Meurant: The Liz Gunn Case - Not Guilty

Liz Gunn: A law graduate and former Television presenter, more recently recognised as an anti-vax campaigner and condemned by most MSM as a conspiracy theorist, the founder of the Loyal NZ political party, has been pilloried by many.

As I posted recently (referring to the Polkinghorne case) (1), in New Zealand we are deemed to be innocent until proven guilty.  And, if charges brought by a prosecuting agency of the State, fail to prove guilt, or are later on appeal, set aside, “that person” is deemed to be – Not Guilty.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 1/3/24

Govt is gunning for gangs – but McKee reckons some Firearms Prohibition Orders could be lifted much earlier than 10 years

Having sorted out the war criminals and terrorists with a series of foreign affairs announcements yesterday, the government today confirmed its plans to allow police to search gang members, their vehicles and homes at any time using court-authorised firearms prohibition orders (FPOs).

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 18/8/23

As global dairy prices plunge, O’Connor steps up with final plan to bring down farm emissions, too

Two burning questions to be asked of ministers – how are they spending (or misspending) our money and how are they further regulating us? – are answered in a batch of press statement from the Beehive over the past 24 hours or so.

The sum mentioned by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor made him the biggest of the spenders in the latest announcements.

Clive Bibby: Free world justice system under attack

The unanimous verdict of the Australian Supreme Court (7 to nothing) to overturn the Appeal Court decision that upheld the conviction of Cardinal George Pell on sexual assault charges is a timely reversal of a trend that is endangering the very existence of our modern democratic society.

I say timely because this was the last opportunity for justice to be served in a case that epitomised the growing influence of popular movements that have wreaked havoc throughout the legal systems in many Western countries, especially those that have based their laws on the British version - the United States, the U.K., Australia and even here in New Zealand.

Steve Baron: A Travesty of Justice

Persecuted, victimised, abuse of government powers and a travesty of justice are the words that come to mind when you consider what Keith and Margaret Berryman have been through over the last 20 years—it’s a closed case, as far as Occupational Safety and Health (now WorkSafe NZ) and the government are concerned. It’s also a tragic event now long faded from the public’s memory. 

This was a case where the Berryman’s friend, beekeeper Ken Richards, died after plunging off a suspension bridge into a King Country river in 1994. The bridge was erected by the NZ Army on Crown land and funded by the Berryman’s.

Karl du Fresne: New admissions to the judicial hall of fame

When I was a novice reporter in Wellington, my duties including covering what was then called the Magistrate’s Court (now known as the District Court). Naturally, I got to know some of the magistrates – not personally, you understand; they were far too magisterial for that. But by observing them from the press bench I did become familiar with their habits and idiosyncrasies.

The regular magistrates included J A Wicks (they were always referred to by their initials in those days), D J Sullivan and M B Scully. Mr Wicks – later to become Sir James – had glasses and wispy hair. He was quietly spoken and gave the impression of being a kindly man, but he brooked no nonsense.

Richard Epstein: Justice for Trayvon Martin?

Our country has had its fair share of racist travesties, but the George Zimmerman verdict is not one of them. 

As the country well knows, in a Seminole County courthouse on July 13, 2013, a six-woman Florida jury acquitted George Zimmerman of charges of both second-degree murder and manslaughter for the killing of an unarmed 16-year-old Trayvon Martin. Ordinarily, a jury verdict signals an end to public controversy on a particular case. But not in this case. The post-trial events have turned a powerful lens on modern American society. That lens reveals a deep distrust of the operation of our criminal justice system by millions of Americans who think that Zimmerman’s acquittal amounted to a travesty of justice.

Frank Newman: Turkish dancing

It’s so bizarre it’s almost humorous. I am referring to the “we were doing a Turkish dance” defence used by a Hawera kebab shop owner against charges that he assaulted his wife. Fortunately the judge saved the judiciary from humiliation by rejecting the defence as "nonsense and a lie".

According to a media report appearing in the Taranaki Daily News the man claimed he and his wife were engaging in a Turkish dance known as Kolbasti. If he is to be believed, and if eye witness reports are correct, then Kolbasti involves kicking and beating ones dance partner.

Mike Butler: Sovereignty, law, and history

A claim that Ngapuhi never ceded sovereignty was one of the first shots fired at of a four-week Waitangi Tribunal hearing that started this week. The tribe wants the tribunal to affirm this viewpoint in a case that the presiding officer, Judge Craig Coxhead, said was unlike any others because it deals with the constitutional foundation of the country, while the tribunal's caseload usually covers historical land loss.

David Round: National wants to sell us down the river

The foreshore and seabed debate has raged for seven years, and by now we are all probably thoroughly sick of it. But the proposals of the Attorney-General, Mr Finlayson, to ‘settle’ the matter are a betrayal of all non-Maori New Zealanders, and deserve to be rejected with the same contempt which that gentleman obviously has for us.