Advocate: Human rights are being “eroded by the backdoor”

Monday 06 November 2017

A local lawyer has blasted proposals to change the amount defendants can recoup in legal costs, if they are found not guilty.

Currently those brought before a Court in a criminal trial will have all their legal costs paid entirely from public funds, if they are acquitted of the crime.

But a review in recent years into the amount of public money that should be put into Court cases has thrown this into question.

Pictured: Advocate Olaf Blakeley argues that people brought to trial and found innocent should have all of their legal fees repaid.

Some suggest that acquitted defendants should only receive a ‘contribution’ from the Crown towards their legal fees, arguing that such an approach would save public money.

Advocate Olaf Blakeley heavily attacked the idea in his most recent column for Connect, slating the approach as “completely contradictory to any notion of fairness.”

“[If] the Crown accuses you of a crime, presses ahead to prosecute you, turns your life upside down, puts you through the anxiety of a trial - but ultimately the allegations are not believed by the court/jury; then it can only be right your costs and expenses are refunded.

From my perspective, I cannot see how any other outcome is just,” he wrote.

Pictured: Innocent people should have their legal costs reimbursed as fair compensation for having their life turned upside down, Advocate Blakeley argues.

“It cannot be right that the Crown can bring prosecutions with a financial safety net, which operates to throw the misery and financial hardship upon the innocent defendant. Yet, that is how the proposals will operate.”

He added: “The fundamental human rights a person should possess to protect them from persecution are being slowly eroded by the backdoor, and current times are dark times. If proposals come into being, along with others queuing up behind, these times may be marked by legal historians as the 21^st century Salem.”

You can read Advocate Blakeley's full article on this subject in Connect magazine here.