- Lawyer to face phone-tapping trial
- The Herald Sun
- 31/10/2008 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: The Rooster ( 264 articles in 2008 )
PROMINENT lawyer Lloyd Rayney has been ordered to stand trial next year charged with tapping the phone of his estranged wife who was found murdered last year.
Mr Rayney has pleaded not guilty to a Commonwealth phone-tapping charge.
Despite their estrangement, Mr Rayney had been sharing a home with his wife before she disappeared and her body was found in a bushland grave in August last year.
District Court of Western Australia chief judge Antoinette Kennedy set down the trial for four days starting on March 3 next year.
Commonwealth prosecutor David Sewell sought an adjournment of the case because of problems with accessing a computer hard drive and audio files owing to a separate proceeding in the Perth Magistrates Court.
"The matter needs to be resolved before the trial... then we can proceed,'' Mr Sewell said.
Mr Sewell said the prosecution did not know what was on the computer.
Mr Rayney's lawyer Phil Urquhart said the defence was ready to proceed.
"Mr Rayney is anxious to have this trial,'' Mr Urquhart said.
Mr Urquhart told the court the Commonwealth seemed to be cobbling its case together after charging Mr Rayney.
Mr Rayney was charged on October 22, 2007, with tapping his wife's phone.
Mr Sewell said a trial might turn out to be unnecessary, depending on the information contained in the computer.
It was in the interests of justice that the court had the relevant material before it, he said.
Judge Kennedy renewed Mr Rayney's bail until the trial next year
Mr Rayney has pleaded not guilty to a Commonwealth phone-tapping charge.
Despite their estrangement, Mr Rayney had been sharing a home with his wife before she disappeared and her body was found in a bushland grave in August last year.
District Court of Western Australia chief judge Antoinette Kennedy set down the trial for four days starting on March 3 next year.
Commonwealth prosecutor David Sewell sought an adjournment of the case because of problems with accessing a computer hard drive and audio files owing to a separate proceeding in the Perth Magistrates Court.
"The matter needs to be resolved before the trial... then we can proceed,'' Mr Sewell said.
Mr Sewell said the prosecution did not know what was on the computer.
Mr Rayney's lawyer Phil Urquhart said the defence was ready to proceed.
"Mr Rayney is anxious to have this trial,'' Mr Urquhart said.
Mr Urquhart told the court the Commonwealth seemed to be cobbling its case together after charging Mr Rayney.
Mr Rayney was charged on October 22, 2007, with tapping his wife's phone.
Mr Sewell said a trial might turn out to be unnecessary, depending on the information contained in the computer.
It was in the interests of justice that the court had the relevant material before it, he said.
Judge Kennedy renewed Mr Rayney's bail until the trial next year
Source: https://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24580896-5005961,00.html
1Will not be visible to public.
2Receive notification of other comments posted for this article. To cease notification after having posted click here.
3To make a link clickable in the comments box enclose in link tags - ie.<link>Link</link>.
4To show an image enclose the image URL in tags - ie.<image>https://fredspage.com/box.jpg</image>. Note: image may be resized if too large
To further have your say, head to our forum Click Here
To contribute a news article Click Here
To view or contribute a Quote Click Here