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Allegations of Sexual
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No one in Hiran Fernando's family
or his large group of supporters ever believed the jury would find him
guilty, a close friend says. "It's all very sad," Raj
Fernando said on leaving the High Court in New Plymouth yesterday afternoon. The family and all his supporters
had been devastated by the guilty verdicts, he said. "It is not the verdict we
expected. We are all very, very surprised. "I am devastated like
everybody else," he said. The New Plymouth radiologist, who
is not related to Hiran Fernando, said he had been a friend of the GP for
many years. He hoped that Fernando would be
able to continue practising medicine in future. Defence counsel Susan Hughes,
herself visibly upset by the verdicts, told the media that Fernando's wife
and three daughters would be making no public comment and asked reporters to
respect their privacy. Two women, who left the courtroom
shortly after the hearing the verdicts, said his family and supporters had
been left shell-shocked by the conviction. They were unable to remain inside
the courtroom because they could not watch the visible distress of Fernando
and his family. Father Tom Lawn, who is Fernando's
priest and spoke in his defence during the trial, said he was left wondering
what would become of those involved in the case. In the witness box, Father Tom
said Fernando had been a parishioner at St Joseph's for 10 years. He was a
good family man who had willingly helped out new immigrants. But he had been aware the final
decision was always in the hands of the jury. "We have got to trust the
jury to have done their best." The aftermath of the trial would
be a challenge for all the community, Father Tom said. "I am left thinking, does
this system create a better society? "How do you get healing out
of this and restore all the relationships that have been damaged?" |
