Public ordered to leave court

Press, 11 February 1986, Page 4

Public ordered to leave court

For the first time under the new legislation, members of the public were ordered from the High Court yesterday morning while . a woman complainant gave evidence on rape charges. About a dozen persons, mainly women, left the gallery at the rear of the Court after Mr Justice Hardie Boys made the order under the Evidence Amendment Act No. 2 and the Crimes Amendment Act No. 3, which recently came into force. Officers of the Court and accredited representatives of the news media were excluded from the direction to clear the Court. Before the complainant was sworn she was asked by his Honour if she wanted a person of her choice to remain in court while she gave evidence. An impasse was reached when she nominated Constable Stanley Matthew

Willcox, the officer in charge of the case, who had already been excluded from the Court under a general direction to all witnesses. Counsel for one accused, Mr G. M. Brodie, asked for the officer in charge to be excluded along with all other witnesses.

A compromise was reached when Mr Brodie agreed that Constable Willcox could remain in court while the woman gave evidence in chief, but not during her crossexamination. Mr Brodie had told his Honour that if the officer in charge was allowed to remain in court a prospective line of crossexamination would be closed to him. Constable Willcox was seated in the public gallery while the woman gave evidence. A woman constable was seated near the witness box.