Fallen by Lucie Morris-Marr

Author:Lucie Morris-Marr
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2019-08-28T16:00:00+00:00

As Chief Judge of the Victorian County Court, Kidd, then aged 52, would be presiding over the Pell trials. Adelaide born, his CV is extensive, wide-ranging and exemplary.

In the late 1990s Kidd appeared in the high-profile prosecution of Leslie Camilleri, who is now serving a life sentence for the horrific abduction, rape and murder of Bega teenagers Lauren Margaret Barry and Nichole Emma Collins. Then, after studying a Masters of Law in Switzerland, Kidd was appointed an International Prosecutor of the War Crimes Chamber of the State Court of Bosnia Herzegovina. As lead counsel, he prosecuted the commander and guard shift-leaders from the Omarska and Keraterm concentration camps, in what must have been harrowing and disturbing work. Returning to Victoria, he became a senior crown prosecutor, leading the case against drug kingpin Tony Mokbel before eventually being appointed as chief judge. His working style is characterised by ‘intense concentration and single-mindedness’.2 Those characteristics were soon evident as we witnessed him operate in the pre-trial hearings on the Pell case.

One of Judge Kidd’s early tasks was to deal with a comprehensive suppression-order request put forward by the Crown prosecutors; they said a media blackout on reporting the first trial, which had now been decided would be the Cathedral Trial, was necessary to ‘prevent a real and substantial risk of prejudice to the proper administration of justice’. We learned that the prosecutors wanted the order to apply to publications in all Australian states and territories, including any website or broadcast format accessible within Australia.

The reason for the Crown’s concern was to ensure the jury of the second trial would not be influenced by knowledge of the details of the first. This would mean that we would be able to report the second trial as it unfolded, but only when that jury reached a verdict would we be able to publish the details of the entire case.

A number of media outlets and commentators were dismayed by the prospect of being prevented from reporting on the high-profile case as it unfolded. While they didn’t dispute the ban of publication or broadcast within Victoria, a media barrister representing outlets including the ABC and Channel Seven argued that the media in the rest of the country should be able to report the matter.

Kidd disagreed, saying that the geographical borders would not prevent Victorians reading about the case on social media or picking up newspapers when they were travelling interstate. ‘The daily coverage would be at saturation point,’ he said.

As debate raged inside and outside the courtroom it was argued that Victoria was too heavy handed with the use of suppression orders, especially considering at the heart of the court system was the principle of open justice.

Very soon, however, almost nothing on the cardinal would be published for quite some time. Kidd had finally ruled that there could be no reporting on the matter until the start of the second trial. We weren’t even allowed to say an order had been made; the media was in lockdown.

The

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