Prosecutor says ‘an error’ not ‘a political decision’ resulted in two women being notified of intention to withdraw charges against them
The barrister representing the women, Felicity Gerry QC, told the court the women wanted police to hand over a series of documents that they believe may show the women have suffered an injustice.Sim told the court it would require an oppressive exercise, searching individually through more than 50,000 documents for details that may not exist.
He said it was regrettable the women were notified of an intention to withdraw the charges, but noted it was just an intention.Magistrate Andrew McKenna earlier made the same observation, suggesting that without a decisive step asking the court to dispose of charges the case remained at square one. But Gerry described the intended withdrawal, communicated to the women first and later confirmed by their solicitor, as unequivocal.Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
“One has to be able to rely on those processes when you have someone working in the Melbourne prosecutions office, otherwise it’s chaos,” she told the court. McKenna said sometimes decisions go through a number of hands, including some with different views, before a final result.The hearing continues.
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