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Otago Daily Times
Thursday, 4-May 2000
Ablett-Kerr calls for justice study
By Fiona Hill
A Royal Commission of Inquiry is needed into New Zealand's justice
system, Dunedin barrister Judith Ablett-Kerr QC told the local branch of the
National Council of Women last night.
Speaking at the Dunedin branch's annual meeting, Mrs Ablett-Kerr said the
country's legal system was in need of an update.
The list of perceived cases of miscarriages of justice, which were being
taken to the highest courts, was growing - as was public disquiet.
Cases such as Arthur Allan Thomas, David Bain, Peter Ellis, Gay Oakes and
June Gordon all raised serious issues for the community about whether the
justice system was "producing the goods", she said.
She called for the establishment of a Criminal Review Commission similar to
that set up in Britain in 1997. The independent body had the ability to
review criminal cases and recommend actions.
Mrs Ablett-Kerr questioned whether the focus of today's legal system was the
pursuit of truth or the religious following of procedure and said that should
be the focus of any inquiry.
Officers elected were. -
President, Helen Gibbins (Guides New Zealand); secretary, Beverly Henderson
(Nurses Association); treasurer and vice-president, Correen Rodger
(Federation of University Women); committee, Daphne Irwin (Salvation Army),
Jeanette Thompson (Zonta), Suzanne Robins (PPTA), Grace Wilson (New Zealand
Society of Physiotherapists); immediate past president, Elizabeth Purdie
(Federation of University Women); honorary auditor, Dot Stewart; honorary
solicitor, Kathryn Lucas.
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