Double 8 Means Double Opportunities

The Auckland District Courtroom 8 hearings vis-à-vis Operation 8 proceeded apace through the fourth day. After the protracted reading of the charges in both English and Maori—generously permitted by the judge—the Crown Prosecutor took the stage with his opening overview.

Given the judge’s suppression order, only two reporters were in attendance. However, the near-full complement of legal representatives for the defendants was present, along with two registrars, two translators and between 6-10 defendants throughout the day.

On calling the Officer in Charge [OC] of Operation 8, the snafus that have plagued the prosecution persisted, i.e., the copies of the prosecutor’s notebook for the judge and the OC did not correspond to the original. On recovering, the prosecutor ploughed through six of the prepared documents before five o’clock.

The documents gathered include a variety of material that has been indexed and cross-indexed in a series of notebooks.

The series on centre stage at present deals with each of the 18 defendants. Thus, the prosecutor introduced the notebooks in the alphabetical order of the original reading of the charges.

On a number of occasions, the testimony of the OC was challenged. These challenges were duly noted by the judge and the defendants assured that any and all contested material would require further substantiation. The judge re-iterated that this initial process was to set the scene, to provide an overview.

Now back to the Double Opportunities: At intervals, the proceedings were halted, copies of the transcripts of the prosecutor/OC testimony distributed and then the registrar read them verbatim aloud. The OC was required to initial each page indicating his agreement that the transcript is correct.

The court registrar was NOT transcribing the proceedings. Given the field of microphones suspended from the ceiling, it would appear that gnomes in the basement transcribe and then transmit 21 copies back to the registrar.

At the lunch hour, the judge secured the courtroom after two advisories to the legal representatives. While the courtroom would be secured, they should manage their papers. Over the break, an Anarchist Collective would be filming in the vacant courtroom.

4/09/2008 6:24 p.m.