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Saturday 17 January 2015

Chris Cairns in court again


Chris Cairns has made another appearance in court.  It was only a routine case management hearing.  Cairns and his co-defendant, the barrister Andrew Fitch-Holland pleaded not guilty once again and it seems that the trial will proceed in October of this year.  

The case is reported on a number of websites including this Australian paper.  One mistake a lot of the media are making is to assume that Fitch-Holland was Cairns' barrister during the 2012 libel trial, on which the criminal case is based.  Fitch-Holland is a friend of Cairns, and gave him some assistance in the trial.  He did not, however, represent Cairns, in part because he is not a libel specialist.  He is a co-defendant because (as I understand it) it is alleged he improperly pressured a witness to sign a false statement for Cairns.  

It is important to reiterate that both defendants pleaded not guilty.  I shall keep an eye on the case as it progresses, and depending on other commitments, will attend as a journalist/observer in October when the trial takes place.  

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