Terrorists, Magistrate turn court into a circus

Issue No: 883; 26 June 2001

 
The George Speight terrorists and the magistrate Salesi Temo turned the Magistrate's Court into a circus yesterday.

Temo, whose contract as Chief Magistrate was not renewed, continued to hear the case and allowed the terrorists to mix freely with persons outside the court. The Prosecution raised strong objections to the relaxed security, and suggested that the terrorists could be handed weapons by those outside. The terrorists laughed at the suggestion. Temo failed to maintain the honor and dignity of the court, forcing the Prosecting Officer Peter Ridgeway to sternly ask Temo to protect the integrity of the court and stop the terrorists from making a "mockery of you and me". Ridgeway told Temo: "This is not a circus".

Temo is known to have strong sympathies for the terrorists and has often been seen to be mixing around with close supporters of the terrorists.

Meanwhile the Speight brothers informed the court that his family was in contact with two Australian law firms and were considering engaging them for their defense. The court gave the Speights until 9 July to engage the lawyers. The preliminary inquiry begins on 9 July. Temo has been adjourning the case on each occasion, giving Speight occasion to buy time. It is believed that Speight and some other terrorists with him are planning to contest the scheduled August elections.

 

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