The plight of two people sentenced for the manslaughter of Burnie man Bobby William Medcraft has highlighted the potential for injustice due to Tasmania's chronic Supreme Court backlog.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Five defendants spent two and half years on remand after being charged with the alleged murder on March 29, 2020.
One of them Geoffrey James Deverell, 37, was found not guilty of both murder and manslaughter and was released within hours of the jury verdict.
Kelsey Maree Ford, 24, who was sentenced to five years jail, is eligible for parole after having already served half her sentence while on remand.
Michael William Hanlon, 54, who was sentenced to five years and six months jail, will be eligible to apply for parole in about a month.
The Department of Justice spokeswoman said it takes approximately eight weeks to hear a matter from the time an application for parole is received to when it goes before one of the Parole Board's fortnightly meetings.
Both Ford and Hanlon look likely to be in jail for Christmas because they must wait for a hearing and there is no provision for bail in their circumstances.
The criminal backlog was reduced from 692 to 673 in 2021-22, the latest annual report from the Director of Public Prosecutions Daryl Coates SC says.
"This is the first time it has reduced in a number of years, reversing what had been a steady increase," he said. In 2016-17 the backlog was 382 cases. Mr Coates said while it was a pleasing result the backlog remained high.
"Although it is pleasing that the pending list [backlog] did not increase, it will continue to take substantial effort and provision of resources to the criminal justice sector, including both prosecution and defence, to reduce it," he said.
Recent DPP annual reports reveal a trend of significant growth in committals to the Supreme Court from 418 in 2016-17 to a high of 645 in 2019-20.
Mr Coates said the cessation of trials over a six week period in 2021-22 because of COVID-19 affected the number of matters completed. Two courts would again operate in Launceston next year in an attempt to reduce the backlog.
"It is planned this year to run extra courts, particularly in Launceston," he said. Until recently this has not been possible because of the Covid restrictions." Court 2 in Launceston has been used as a jury room to allow social distancing from 2020 until recently.
The reduction to one court in Launceston affected the number of completed cases (69) compared with 93 in Burnie and 148 in Hobart from July 1, 2021 to April 23, 2022. The backlog continues despite the appointment of a seventh judge, Tamara Jago, in Burnie and three acting judges and the recent availability of Judge-alone trials.
Law Society of Tasmania president Amanda Thompson said the backlog issue was very complex.
"One of the many issues are that there is an extreme shortage of defence solicitors and this is inevitably contributing to the ability for matters to be expedited," she said.
She said that the backlog was not necessarily to blame for long remand periods. "Someone charged with murder or manslaughter can only be granted bail in 'exceptional circumstances' and it is rare that this occurs," she said.
The Chair of the Prisoners Legal Service Greg Barns SC said the PLS had concerns about prisoners on remand being subjected to lengthy periods of incarceration, in some cases beyond the sentence that they would serve if convicted.
"Unfortunately compensation is not available for those who are imprisoned and who then are found not guilty. This is unfair given the impact of detention is often to lose employment, create family stress, and ensure indebtedness on release."
"Tasmania needs more criminal defence lawyers. There is a gap in the legal services market for specialist criminal law firms such as those which exist in other jurisdictions like Victoria.
"While there have been efforts by the courts to clear the backlog greater use of bail is important.
Shadow Attorney General Ella Haddad said that the backlog continued to be a great barrier in access to justice.
"Appointing new judges and magistrates only addresses part of the problem because the backlogs happen much earlier than when people are in front of a judge," she said.
"Backlogs are caused by things like under resourcing of the DPP as well as lack of information sharing between police, courts, defence counsel and the prison.
"Rolling lockdowns in the prison also cause delays in getting through the court system because legal representatives can't get access to their clients.
"In some recent examples, this has led to people sitting un-sentenced, on remand for months and years which is completely unacceptable. "
A Department of Justice spokeswoman said the Government had undertaken significant reforms to decrease the backlog of criminal cases in the Supreme Court.
She said the Justice Miscellaneous (Criminal Backlog and Related Matter) Act 2020 came into effect on July 1, 2021 aimed at reducing the time it took to bring a matter to trial.
- Creating a number of new offences that can be heard by the Magistrates Court that mirror some of the less serious offences that would previously have been heard by the Supreme Court;
- Conferring a higher maximum sentence limit for matters that may be dealt with by the Magistrates Court;
- Transferring preliminary proceedings applications to the Magistrates Court;
- Expanding the categories of crimes which defendants may elect to have dealt with in the Magistrates Court; and
- Amending the Bail Act 1994 to restrict the circumstances in which Magistrates' decisions in bail matters may be appealed in the Supreme Court.
The Government has also increased funding to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and Tasmania Legal Aid to support backlog reduction.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.examiner.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @examineronline
- Follow us on Instagram: @examineronline
- Follow us on Google News: The Examiner
Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
