Justice for all victims of crime, says Rann Return to Index
By GREG KELTON and CATHERINE HOCKLEY
November 19, 2003

PREMIER Mike Rann last night claimed "justice has been done" over the jailing of Paul Nemer and then renewed his attack on the legal profession.

Speaking on his return from a private visit to New Zealand, Mr Rann told The Advertiser it was a victory for newspaper vendor Geoffrey Williams "and all those other Williamses who have been a victim of crime".

"I felt the original judgment was manifestly inadequate and that's why I spoke out," he said.

"The judgment certainly vindicates our decision to intervene and I will continue to speak out when I feel there has been an injustice."

Mr Rann said that, for far too long, the rights of victims had been overlooked. He was more interested in justice "than the technicalities of the law or the status of the profession".

"You know what stunned me was they (lawyers) were still belly-aching last week," he said.

Opposition legal affairs spokesman Robert Lawson called for the Government to refrain from "politicising" the sentence.

"It (the resentencing) hasn't been dictated by the Government, it's an application of law," he said.

Attorney-General Michael Atkinson said any future Government intervention with the Director of Public Prosecutions would only occur in rare circumstances. "I would be quite happy to finish my term as Attorney-General without having made a direction," he said.

Mr Atkinson, who said he was not happy to see anyone go to jail, appealed to the public and media "not to hurt or punish" the Nemer family.

Asked if the outcome reflected on DPP Paul Rofe's handling of the case, Mr Atkinson said: "It would indicate that Mr Rofe was unwise to agree to the set of facts he agreed with Lindy Powell (Nemer's lawyer).

"The Solicitor-General is conducting an inquiry into charge-bargaining generally in SA and charge-bargaining in the Nemer case and he will report to the Government and we await that report."

Mr Rofe defended his office, saying that "sentencing is a very difficult matter and people are going to have different views".

Mr Lawson said the Opposition had held the view that "the trial outcome had shocked the public conscience and the sentence was manifestly inadequate even though the Government's original position was that there were not grounds for appeal".

Law Society of SA president David Howard said the result "shows very clearly that the (legal) system is working".

"When an apparent error has occurred by one judge it will be rectified by the appeal process," he said.

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