Winkelmann scrutinises state of judicial system

• Author: Belinda Feek
• Published date: 05 March 2022
• Publication title: Weekend Herald

In her inaugural report, Chief Justice Helen Winkelmann raises concerns about innocent people spending too long behind bars on remand

Chief District Court Judge Heemi Taumaunu said yesterday that district courts had managed to deal with the Omicron outbreak well so far this year, but sickness affecting the public and staff would soon have an impact.

Winkelmann said the protest in Wellington, which came to a fiery end on Wednesday, was “very disruptive” to proceedings in the city, effectively shutting down the Court of Appeal, while the High Court attempted to carry on hearings by moving some to the Supreme Court building.

She said the judicial system would get through the backlog caused by the pandemic. “We do plan to fully recover. The story will be different between different courts. To some extent we are strapped into this, we don’t know where this pandemic is going to take us and have to keep altering our plans.”

Clearing the backlog was fundamental and would require some “new thinking”, Winkelmann said.

She also noted that although the number of remand prisoners had fallen 20 per cent, from about 3600 in 2019 to just over 2900 in 2021, the wait time behind bars had...