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The Evening Post
February 22 1996
Judge praised for fairness, humanity
Neil William Williamson, High Court Justice: b Christchurch, Dec 9, 1938; m
1962 Maree Jean Rondel; 2s, 4d; d Christchurch, Feb 14, 1996.
Justice Williamson was admitted to the bar in 1961 after completing his law
degree at the University of Canterbury. He was a crown prosecutor with law
firm Raymond Donnelly from 1968 to 1985.
He was also a former president of the district law society and vice-president
of the New Zealand Law Society in 1984 and 1985.
He had a particular interest in the development of free legal advice centres
and served as a judge advocate in courts martial. He was a member of the St
Johns Ambulance Association subcommittee and a member of the Catholic Social
Services consultative committee.
Justice Williamson, former executive High Court judge of the South Island,
was remembered by colleagues as a man of impeccable fairness.
Christchurch High Court staff described Justice Williamson as a wonderful
man, genuinely interested in people and proud of his family.
He was appointed a High Court judge in 1985 and presided over a number of
high-profile court cases including the Christchurch civic creche indecencies
trial of Peter Ellis and the Dunedin murder trial of David Cullen Bain. He
had spent the last year as a judge on the criminal appeals division of the Court
of Appeal.
Fellow judges paid tribute to Justice Williamson's national reputation for
fairness. Executive High Court judge for the South Island Justice Tipping
said his friend was one of the few who could combine a human touch with
toughness and firmness when required.
High Courts sitting in Christchurch and Wellington and a number of District
Courts around New Zealand adjourned briefly in respect of Justice Williamson.
Justice Hansen said his colleague was a warm and kind-hearted humanitarian
with impeccable fairness. This fairness was recognised by the Court of Appeal
which, in delivering its judgment on the appeal of David Cullen Bain, said of
Justice Williamson:
"Having considered the evidence and the submissions of counsel in this
case we (the court) do not doubt that the judge was meticulously fair in his
summing up to the jury. This fairness extended to the judge's answers to
questions from the jury where the judge was openly concerned to present the
jury with a balanced and complete answer."
Justice Williamson would be an enormous loss to the High Court, the legal
profession and the public, Justice Hansen said.
President of the Criminal Bar Association David Ruth said Justice Williamson
was a pleasure to appear before and considered a very just judge. He would be
sadly missed. He died, aged 57, shortly after a heart bypass operation.
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