Dispatches from Week 3 - Operation 8 Depositions Hearing

Another week of the depositions hearing has passed. The last five days of the depositions hearing, endless, mysterious, boring, interspersed with nano-seconds of excitement. Unfortunately the suppression orders still stand so I can’t tell you about the nano-statements of excitement. Possibly they only seem exciting in comparison with read-back guy, who continues to mangle Te Reo in a way I didn’t was know possible. When a friend said his favourite readback-guy mispronunciation was: why-care-moan-a, I couldn’t figure out what the original word was supposed to be (waikaremoana).

The big question people keep asking me is whether or not the crown will meet the prima facie case on all the charges, or whether some will be dropped. A couple of the lawyers are optimistic that a prima facie case won’t be met against their clients.

But if someone is facing 30 charges and the judge believes that a prima facie case is made on just one of them, then the crown can just relay the other 29 at the next stage of the process (I think - this is something I have been asking lawyers about for a month, and don’t always get the same answer. But it appears to be the lawyers consensus of the moment that the crown can relay individual charges). So the lawyers aren’t necessarily concentrating on the prima-facie case, but on finding out information that will help them in pre-trial hearings down the track.

The big question is when it will finish. I even made up a song: “It’s the depositions hearing that never ends/it just goes on and on my friend/some people started investigating not knowing what it was/ and we’ll continue listening forever just because.”

But it looks possible that the hearing will end sometime this week. However, the judge has invited written submissions from the crown. After these are put in the defence will be given 14 days (or some set period) to respond, and only then will the judge make his decision. So while we may all be going home at the end of this week, we won’t know what’s happening for some time.