It was revealed this week that the legal bill of everyone’s least-favourite tutor Clayton Weatherston has surpassed $440,000 and is expected to rise, with more invoices still to be filed. Because Weatherston relies on legal aid, the taxpayer will pick up this expense.
The former University of Otago PhD student and economics tutor is currently serving a life sentence with a minimum non-parole period of 18 years for the murder of 22-year-old Otago student Sophie Elliott in 2008.
The hefty legal aid fee was clocked up during Weatherston’s 2009 trial in the Christchurch High Court, and the unsuccessful appeal of this verdict in the Court of Appeal in 2011. The same year, Weatherston attempted to overturn this verdict in the Supreme Court, which added to the costs.
Sophie’s Elliott’s father, Gil Elliott told the Otago Daily Times that Weatherston “did not deserve that kind of money spent on him.”
However Professor Mark Henaghan, Dean of the Otago Law Faculty, points out that “out of context an amount like that always looks strange, but the whole process of establishing the cost is done according to a formula.” Limiting the amount that could be spent would lead to issues in the access to justice, according to Professor Henaghan. “We can’t just deal out legal aid based on whether we like this person, but not that person. People are innocent until proven guilty and the state’s spending a lot of money trying to prove them guilty. People need a chance to form a defence or access to justice will be unequal. Only the rich will be able to afford a decent defence.”
New Zealand Wastes Bucketloads on “Justice”
