There is a beautiful example of the way justice works in New Zealand at the moment.
In the green corner, currently waiting to see if he can not only get away with, but also get paid for, killing his entire family is David "The Newspaper Boy" Bain. Present champeen, thanks to the efforts of the Smokin' Joe Karam. We have no idea what Joe smokes, but to be able to bend
In the red corner, the worst-ever criminal this country has seen, Mark, the Hitman Lundy. Lundy, who chopped his wife into so many bits that he left his silhouette on the blood splattered wall behind him, is not just getting an appeal to the Privy Council, he is a reasonable chance to get off.
In the white corner, sits Peter "He's a gay guy looking after babies, he must be a paedophile" Ellis. Ellis, whose conviction has been upheld despite the entire evidence having been discredited by the whole international field of child psychology. Ellis served seven years for crimes that he did not just commit - they were crimes that absolutely did not happen. Ellis remains on the database as a convicted paedophile.
And finally, in the black corner, Teina "Darkie in a Hoodie" Pora, still in jail after twenty years for a murder he almost certainly did not commit. Arrested as a 16-year old, Pora could well be the greatest miscarriage of justice this country has seen since the abolition of hanging. The evidence of his innocence is so great that many senior cops believe he's innocent, while the semen found in the victim has been long since proven not to be his. If you ever think capital punishment is a good idea, check out Pora's details - he would have been hanged 15 years ago.
A very brief examination of the facts shows that both Bain & Lundy differ from the other two in money.
Thanks to Bain having the support of a deceived public caused by the rantings of a publicity-hungry buffoon, he had the power to change public perception sufficiently to con an entire jury into believing his innocence.
Lundy is going through much the same process, but without the book - he has an amazing core of supporters who have conned themselves into believing their pal Mark wouldn't commit the crime. They have thrown hundreds of thousands of dollars at the case, and have bought themselves a hearing at the Privy Council. Notably, his own family members do not believe a bar of him being innocent.
Who, meanwhile, was ever going to support a gay man who looked after babies and little kids? Whenever did you see a male kindergarten teacher? A man - especially a GAY one, must have some agenda for wanting to be a daycare worker, right?
As it happens, the agenda was simply that he enjoyed working with small children - some people do, believe it or not. Some typically homophobic redneck Canterbury-supporting parents didn't like having a gay on the scene, so started seeing shadows in every tantrum, ultimately attempting to ruin their kids' lives by putting them in front of inadequate dicks masquerading as psychologists. Unluckily for Ellis, the utter discrediting of "repressed/recovered memory syndrome" was not known at that time, and courts have only been too happy to sweep him under the mat ever since.
Pora suffers from being a young, poor Maori bloke with relatives of limited means. I have no doubt that an effective barrister would have had him out of jail years ago. The man has now spent his entire adult life in jail for a crime that only has the sketchiest of circumstantial evidence against him, and infinitely less evidence than that against Bain & Lundy.
So why is our justice system so blatantly driven by the persuasive skills of the highest-priced lawyers?
It is, unfortunately, a symptom of a system that only people from privileged backgrounds enter.
Law is a challenging degree and attracts few students from outside the privileged world of private schools and decile 10 addresses. It is exacerbated by law firms recruiting people whose backgrounds and upbringing match their own privileged status.
The irony in the country's most famous lawyer, Peter Williams QC, who has probably got more murderers off than anyone else in NZ's history being the leading proponent of prison reform is obvious.
If you really want to change the system, change it from within the legal fraternity, not the prison.
Copyright © Alan Charman