Liu v The Queen

[2014] NZHC 1737

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND AUCKLAND REGISTRY

CRI-2014-044-001376 [2014] NZHC 1737

UNDER

Section 167 of the Criminal Procedure Act

2011

IN THE MATTER

of an application for an adjournment of trial

BETWEEN

YUN QING (JACK) LIU Applicant

AND

THE QUEEN Respondent

Hearing:	24 July 2014
Appearances:	M Kan for the applicant W P Cathcart for the Respondent
Judgment:	24 July 2014

JUDGMENT OF LANG J

(On application for adjournment)

Counsel/Solicitors:

M Kan, M Kan Law, Auckland

W P Cathcart, Meredith Connell, Auckland

LIU v R [2014] NZHC 1737 [24 July 2014]

[1]      Mr Liu faces a charge of murder.  He was arrested in April 2014 and appeared for the first time in this Court on 30 April 2014.  On that date the presiding Judge set a trial date of 13 October 2014. Three weeks were allocated for the trial based on the estimates given to the Court by counsel at that time.

[2]      Mr Liu has now applied for an order adjourning the trial.  The application is advanced on several bases.

1.Disclosure  has  not  yet  been  completed  and  is  unlikely  to  be completed for some weeks.

2.Counsel  for  Mr  Liu  considers  that  the  trial  estimate  is  grossly inadequate.  He submits that a trial of six to eight weeks duration will be required.

[3]      Counsel for the Crown accepts that a trial of three weeks duration is unlikely to be sufficient to complete the trial.   He estimates, however, that the trial will require four weeks, rather than the six to eight estimated by the defence.

[4]      Several factors have combined to render the October trial date unattainable. The first and most important is the fact that the trial duration will now be at least four weeks.  That would pose very real difficulties for the Court, because it has a large number of trials scheduled to commence during what would be the fourth week of the present trial.  Those trials relate to events that occurred well before Mr Liu’s arrest. As a result they have priority over the present trial.

[5]      I consider that a trial of at least six weeks duration needs to be allocated. This is because there will be a large amount of forensic evidence.  That in turn may be  the  subject  of  defence  evidence  that  is  likely  to  extend  the  trial  duration. Secondly, Mr Liu will require contemporaneous translation of all the evidence.  That will inevitably slow the trial process.  In addition, at least 12 Crown witnesses will need to have their evidence translated from Mandarin or Cantonese into English. That too will inevitably slow progress during the trial.   Finally the fact that ESR investigations are ongoing leads to a realistic prospect that final briefs of evidence

from ESR witnesses will not be provided to the defence until September.   That would provide inadequate time for the defence to arrange for its experts to provide advice in relation to the Crown forensic evidence.

[6]      At this stage I allocate the proceeding a firm fixture commencing on 4 May

2015.   I have allocated eight weeks for the trial to err on the side of caution.   In addition I have advised counsel that the proceeding is to be the subject of a stand-by trial beginning on the week commencing 9 February 2015.   In the event that any existing fixture that is due to commence on that date resolves or is vacated, this trial will be allocated a firm fixture as a matter of priority.   Counsel are therefore to proceed on the basis that all pre-trial issues will need to be resolved before the end of this year.

[7]      In order to monitor progress I direct that trial callover is to be held on 17

September 2014 at 9.00 am.   The purpose of that callover will be to  ascertain whether  the  Court  needs  to  allocate  any  fixture  time  to  deal  with  pre-trial applications.  I appreciate that final disclosure may not have occurred by that date, but I expect counsel for Mr Liu to be in a position then to advise the Court whether his client has any pre-trial applications in relation to the disclosure that has been provided.

[8]      I also reserve leave to both counsel to ask the Court to arrange a telephone conference before me at any stage prior to trial should any further issue arise requiring the assistance or intervention of the Court.

[9]      The fixture on 13 October 2014 is vacated.

Lang J