Poisoning victim's dad vows to stop reopening of Laos hostel
The father of Holly Bowles, a young woman who died by suspected poisoning in a Laotian backpacker hostel in November 2024, has vowed to ensure the venue is never allowed to reopen.
Shaun Bowles told 2GB's Ben Fordham on Tuesday morning it was 'unfathomable' to hear news of the hostel's plan to reopen under a new name.
'The potential of this happening to someone else is very real because obviously they haven't changed their ways,' Mr Bowles said.
'We're gonna put our heads together with some people and we're gonna do everything we can to make sure that place doesn't reopen because it's just not right,' he said.
'To have no justice and to find out that they're going to reopen the backpackers … it's just the worst news.'
Nana Backpacker hostel became the centre of international attention in November 2024 after six backpackers, including two 19-year-old Australian women, died after a suspected methanol poisoning.
Mr Bowles' daughter Holly and her friend Bianca Jones had been drinking at the venue, which plans to reopen later this year under the name 'Vang Vieng Central Backpackers Hostel'.
One English backpacker who recovered from the suspected poisoning told the BBC it was 'unbelievable' to hear of the hostel's reopening.
Bethany Clarke and her friend Simone White fell ill one day after drinking free vodka shots at Nana Backpackers, and while Bethany was able to recover, Simone would succumb to her illness several days later.
'I'm shocked. If it's the same management or ownership involved, I wouldn't trust them,' Ms Clarke said.
'It's just unbelievable because we know that was where we were poisoned.'
Mr Bowles believes the Laotian government is not taking the deaths seriously.
'They tell us that it's sitting with the prosecutors but … we can't even get a meeting with the Laos ambassador to Australia in Canberra to ask some questions and to find out some answers,' he told Fordham.
'We remember (Holly) so fondly … someone needs to be held accountable,' he said.
The hostel now appears on TripAdvisor under the newly proposed name, however bookings cannot be made through the site.
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News.com.au
2 days ago
- News.com.au
Grandfather's eerie last moments before horror murder caught on CCTV
It's the most disturbing crime I've seen since 1993 when two 11-year-olds abducted, tortured and killed toddler James Bulger – with sickening similarities. In April, a 14-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl were convicted of manslaughter. Earlier this month, they were given sentences so paltry, I felt my blood boil. The boy beat to death a retired factory worker and granddad, Bhim Kohli, 80, in an unprovoked attack, hurling racist abuse at him as he did. The girl filmed the assault, cheered him on and laughed in the dying pensioner's face. Later, both bragged about it. He received seven years in jail. She wasn't jailed at all – for fear it'd impact her 'education and mental health.' She received a three-year rehabilitation order, a six-month curfew, and community service. They remain anonymous. A judge ruled last month their welfare outweighed the public interest in open justice and unrestricted reporting. Outside court late last week, Bhim's daughter Susan Kohli choked back tears as she read the family's statement. 'We feel anger and disgust towards the teenagers who took dad away from us. They humiliated him, an 80 year-old-man, assaulted him, filmed it and laughed at him.' Referring to their sentences and anonymity, she said: 'They have taken a life – and as a result our lives have been changed forever. When they're released they still have their full lives ahead of them. They can rebuild their lives. We can't.' How on earth could this happen? When I read the details, a chill ran through me. Then I saw where it happened: Leicester. I lived and worked there as a council-funded youth worker. I know one of the key ways in which this horror might've been prevented. Multiple grim factors coalesced to cause this: toxic teen phone culture, a desire for online 'fame', male violence, government cuts, policing failures and a breakdown of a famous multicultural society which recent politicians have savaged as 'woke,' leading to the normalisation of disgusting racist attacks. Trigger warning: the details I'll share now are distressing. But they're important to understand how a once-great multicultural society, in a city I was proud to call home, can break down to the point something unthinkable like this occurs. A 'very mild, gentle man' who loved his family and dog Bhim Kohli loved gardening in his small allotment. His neighbour, Marie Chatterton, described him as 'very mild and gentle.' His grandson, Simranjit Kohli, said 'My granddad is the main reason I am who I am. Now we'll never get to see if he is proud.' He was metres from his home, walking his beloved dog, Rocky, in a nearby park. The last words he heard as he cowered on his knees and his distraught dog watched helplessly were those of vile racist taunts, abuse, and laughter. When his daughter found him lying on the ground in agony, he told her his attackers had called him a 'P***' (a hateful racist slur) during the attack. Detective Chief Inspector Mark Sinski called the case one of the most shocking of his career. The boy, he said, had a thirst for social media notoriety. Two weeks earlier, Bhim had intervened when two white boys aged 12 and 13 racially abused a man of colour near the same park. They threw a rock and a fence post at him and shouted 'go back to your village.' Bhim, his daughter, and a neighbour reported it. That man, who remains anonymous, last week said: 'If police had increased patrols after that, maybe Bhim would still be alive.' Bhim's daughter Susan echoed these sentiments. He added that he was shocked by 'this level of anger and vitriol … the racist language, the violence … from such a young age group'. But police deterring the act is a Band-Aid – we need to address the root cause. We need to look at a deeper rot in a city that once rightly boasted itself as Britain's most successful multicultural city. Elderly man suffers broken neck, three broken ribs In court, we learned the boy, who 'revelled in his hard, violent reputation' didn't know Bhim. He 'wanted to impress' his friend. She'd pointed Bhim out, encouraged the attack, and filmed it. In the weeks previously, she'd bullied and harassed Bhim; she'd thrown apples at him. She also filmed another Asian man being racially abused and mocked. She had a 'grudge' against Bhim because of an earlier verbal altercation involving a friend. He'd told them to get off his neighbour's garage roof. In response, stones were thrown at him, he was spat at and was racially abused by the children. Her phone contained a photo of Bhim taken a week before the attack. She'd deliberately arrived at the park at the time she knew he walked his dog. 'This girl was obsessed with violence – she filmed and encouraged it,' said DCI Sinski. 'Her actions were cynical and calculated.' When arrested, she was 'not in any way intimidated by the gravity of the charge.' He added: 'She was very sure of herself … and unnecessarily cocky and confident during her evidence.' The boy wore a balaclava and knocked Bhim to the ground then hit him with his shoe as he was trying to get up. The judge said he was 'showing off' as he knew he was being filmed. He slapped him and called him a racial slur so hateful, British newspapers won't print it. He stomped on Bhim so forcefully, it broke his neck. As the 80-year-old lay on the ground defenceless and in agony, then motionless, the teen repeatedly kicked him so hard, he broke three of his ribs as the girl filmed, laughed and later bragged. When police reviewed her phone, they found numerous clips of her filming and encouraging attacks. Bhim's daughter described finding her father. 'He screamed, 'My neck, my neck.' I'd never heard him in that kind of pain before.' He died the following day in hospital. 'Lock up the council workers who let this happen' One reader commented: 'Also lock up the police and council who failed to deal with the anti-social behaviour going on for ages.' I previously worked for Leicestershire County Council as a youth worker, helping kids just like Bhim's attackers. I loved Leicester, Britain's first city where white people were a minority. It's home to a large Indian and Pakistani community. We celebrated Diwali, revelled in the delicious food, and proved multiculturalism worked. We ran programs for disadvantaged kids to keep them out of trouble and off the streets – including those expelled, or at risk of arrest. It was a haven for self-expression, but we also taught them respect. My male manager and I were particularly keen to act as positive role models for the boys who came from complex backgrounds. That centre was demolished in 2012 due to Tory austerity. Between 2010 and 2023, the Conservatives closed over 1,200 youth centres and more than a third of children's centres. Meanwhile, figures like Nigel Farage – Britain's Pauline Hanson – have become alarming political icons for Britain's youth. Farage has 1.3 million TikTok followers, more than all other MPs combined. He spews anti-Immigration rhetoric. The death of 80-year-old Bhim Kohli in Leicestershire only makes three of today’s front pages. As we reported yesterday, the Telegraph writes that Mr Kohli had previously complained to police about anti-social behaviour by young kids where he lived. — Darshna Soni (@darshnasoni) September 4, 2024 Bhim was killed just a month after the UK race riots. Misinformation claimed the Southport stabbing suspect was an immigrant. He wasn't. Far-right activist Tommy Robinson led the lie – and shortly afterwards, asylum hotels were set on fire. My old youth centre promoted harmony and diversity. Many like it are gone – bulldozed, not just closed. Adolescence The chilling parallels to Netflix's Adolescence are undeniable. The show prompted UK PM Keir Starmer to meet its creators. Writer Jack Thorne called for smartphone bans in schools and a digital age of consent, naming Australia's world-leading example as one the UK should follow. In the show, 13-year-old Jamie kills a girl after being radicalised online. He lies, denies responsibility, then shows threadbare remorse. So did this boy. He falsely claimed Bhim had a knife. Then said the pensioner just 'fell.' Eventually, he admitted to the killing, saying he 'just needed to get his anger out.' The judge called his remorse 'diluted,' adding: 'You say it wasn't your fault. The sooner you realise otherwise, the better.' In leaked Snapchats after the attack, he wrote: 'Feds know it's me,' with a laughing emoji. He bragged about his 'punching power.' How this could've been avoided Could a youth centre have kept this violent boy off the streets and out of trouble? Maybe not. Could a youth phone ban have stopped the desire for viral infamy? Maybe not. Could more visible policing following reports of racist hate incidents have made a difference? Maybe not. Could braver political leadership on multiculturalism have countered anti-immigration propaganda? Maybe not. But if all of these things had been in place, as was perfectly possible? A beloved, hardworking granddad might still be alive today. He might not have spent his final moments in agony, being ridiculed and facing the ugliest collapse of the society he loved – at the hands of children.
News.com.au
2 days ago
- News.com.au
Erin Patterson trial: Closing arguments delivered in Leongatha mushroom poisoning case
Is Erin Patterson a cold and calculated killer, or an accidental poisoner who panicked fearing she would be blamed? That is the question jurors in Victorian mother's triple-murder trial will be tasked with answering. After seven weeks of evidence and four days of closing arguments from both sides of the bar table, the jury was sent home earlier on Thursday afternoon with a final message from Justice Christopher Beale. 'It is more important than ever that you have a good weekend,' the trial judge said. 'I really want you to come back refreshed on Tuesday.' Ms Patterson, 50, is facing trial after pleading not guilty to the murders of Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson. Prosecutors allege she deliberately poisoned a beef wellington lunch for the two couples with death cap mushrooms, while her defence say it was a tragic accident. The trial, now in its final stages, will hear from Justice Beale on Tuesday as he sums up the relevant law, evidence and arguments, and identifies the key issues jurors will need to determine. This week, Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC and defence barrister Colin Mandy SC had their final opportunity to address the jury. What the prosecution alleges Over two days, Dr Rogers took the jury through the evidence that showed, in her submission, why the jury should have no difficulty finding Ms Patterson intentionally sourced and included death caps in the lunch, intending to kill her guests. Dr Rogers said it was the Crown's case the accused woman saw and acted upon two posts to iNaturalist on April 28 and May 22, 2023, of death cap mushrooms in the Gippsland region. It's alleged she visited Loch 10 days after Christine McKenzie shared the sighting online, two hours before purchasing a Sunbeam Food Lab dehydrator. An image, located in the cache data of Google Photos on a tablet found at her home, depicted what mycologist Dr Tom May said was 'highly consistent' with death caps sitting on a dehydrator tray in her kitchen, the prosecutor said. These had a last modified date on May 4, the jury was told. 'It is open for you to infer that having dehydrated death cap mushrooms, at some stage she blitzed them into a powder, as she admitted doing for other mushrooms, and, in that form, hid them in the lunch guests' beef wellington,' Dr Rogers submitted. Dr Rogers told the jury Ms Patterson's phone records captured a possible second visit to Loch on May 22 and Outtrim the same day, where Dr May posted a death cap sighting on May 21. The prosecutor alleged Ms Patterson invited her husband Simon Patterson and his four relatives to her home two weeks before the lunch under the pretence of wanting to discuss medical issues. Simon pulled out the evening before, while the four lunch guests arrived about 12.30pm at Ms Patterson's Leongatha home. After the lunch, it's alleged Ms Patterson raised a fabricated cancer diagnosis to explain away the 'otherwise unusual lunch invitation'. 'You might be wondering why on earth would she tell such a lie?' Dr Rogers asked. ' Well, the prosecution says that the accused never thought she would have to account for this lie … her lie would die with them.' Dr Rogers told the jury it was the Crown's case Ms Patterson prepared six individually portioned beef wellingtons – five containing death cap mushrooms – with the sixth 'clearly intended' for her husband should he have changed his mind. She pointed to evidence from Ian Wilkinson that the four guests ate off large grey dishes while Ms Patterson had a smaller 'orangey-tan' plate, and Simon's evidence that Heather told him she noticed the accused woman had a coloured plate that was 'different to the rest'. 'The only reason she would do that is because she knew that there were poisonous mushrooms in the other meals because she'd put them there, and to ensure that she could identify the sole non-poisonous meal,' Dr Rogers alleged. Each of the lunch guests began experiencing symptoms of nausea and vomiting later the same night and made their way to hospital the following morning. By Tuesday, August 1, each was critically ill and in an induced coma at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne. Dr Rogers took the jury to Ms Patterson's first hospital attendance at 8.05am on July 31 – two days after the lunch. She told the court this was the first time Ms Patterson learned doctors suspected death cap mushroom poisoning. 'This is the moment, we suggest to you, that she realised that what she had done had not gone undetected. Her reaction: she wanted to leave,' Dr Rogers said. The jury was told Ms Patterson checked herself out of hospital against medical advice and returned 98 minutes later. Prosecutors say it is unclear what she did during this time, but argued her behaviour was not consistent with someone being told they'd potentially consumed a deadly toxin and their life was in danger. Dr Rogers said the Crown alleged the only 'logical explanation' was Ms Patterson knew very well she had not eaten death caps and had fled home to work out how to manage the situation. She returned to hospital at 9.48am, allegedly feigning being sick, and was transferred to the Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne. Dr Rogers told the jury Ms Patterson was discharged 24 hours after returning to hospital, with medical results showing no evidence of mushroom poisoning. The prosecutor alleged the accused woman's actions after returning home amounted to a 'cover up'. These included allegedly lying about feeding the leftovers, without the mushrooms and pastry, to her kids, dumping the food dehydrator used to dry death caps and handing a 'dummy phone' to police. 'Phone B, we say, is a dummy phone set up deliberately by the accused to trick the police and to conceal the existence and, most importantly, the contents of her usual mobile phone,' Dr Rogers said. As part of her closing address, Dr Rogers pointed to what the Crown allege are five 'calculated deceptions' they say lie at the heart of the case. These allegedly were; the fabricated cancer claim, the lethal dose of poison 'secreted' in a home cooked meal, Ms Patterson feigning being sick, the cover-up and the untruthful evidence given from the witness box. She told the jury understanding the deceptions would allow them to 'safely reject any reasonable possibility that this was a terrible accident' and allow them to find she committed each of the alleged crimes. 'We say there is no reasonable alternative explanation for what happened to the lunch guests, other than the accused deliberately sourced death cap mushrooms and deliberately included them in the meal she served them, with an intention to kill them,' Dr Rogers said. She asked jurors to consider what they would have done if it was really a horrible accident. 'Would you go into self-preservation mode just worrying about protecting yourself from blame?' the prosecutor asked. 'No. That's not what you'd do. You would do everything you could to help the people you love.' What the defence say Colin Mandy SC, Ms Patterson's barrister, began his address by listing out 'two simple issues' he said the jury would have to determine. These were; is there a reasonable possibility that death cap mushrooms were put into this meal accidentally, and is there a reasonable possibility that his client did not intend to kill her guests. Mr Mandy argued the prosecution had taken a flawed approach to the case, starting with the theory that Ms Patterson was guilty and working backwards by cherry-picking convenient fragments and discarding inconvenient truths. The defence lawyer told jurors the prosecution had sought to paint Ms Patterson as a cold and calculated killer who had spent months planning this crime, but he questioned what possible reason she would have to kill. He said Ms Patterson had no motive to want her husband or in-laws dead, arguing the evidence actually showed she had 18 years' of 'anti-motive' with strong and loving relationships with Simon's parents. 'There's no possible prospect that Erin wanted in those circumstances to destroy her whole world, her whole life. Surely it's more likely that her account is true,' he said. 'Don and Gail had never been anything but kind and understanding to Erin Patterson. There was absolutely no reason at all for her to hurt them in any way at all.' Mr Mandy argued the prosecution had made much of a short dispute Ms Patterson had with Simon in December 2022 to show there was tension in the family dynamics. But he said even Simon agreed the spat over their children's schooling and finances had simmered down by the end that month showed it was 'an entirely unremarkable minor blow-up'. Mr Mandy took the jury to a series of disparaging messages Ms Patterson sent about her in-laws to her online friends and to Don and Gail themselves in December, remarking this was her being honest about her feelings and standing up for herself. 'This was an aberration in her dealings with the Pattersons, and there is nothing to say otherwise,' he said. 'It stands out in this case because it's the only one.' The defence barrister reminded jurors of what Ms Patterson said about the reason for the lunch itself; that she'd been feeling 'isolated' from Don and Gail in recent months and was proactively trying to build bridges. He again questioned if it was more likely that she wanted to kill everyone or that she wanted to reconnect for the sake of her children. Moving on to the lunch and Ian Wilkinson's evidence that Ms Patterson ate from an orangey-tan dish while the other guests ate from large grey plates, Mr Mandy said Ian must have been mistaken. He pointed to footage taken by police at her home on August 5 which showed a small collection of plates – none of them grey or orangey-tan – and Simon's evidence that Ms Patterson did not have sets of matching plates. This, Mr Mandy said, was backed up by the evidence of Ms Patterson and the two children. 'The prosecution says, 'No, no, no, Ian's right and they're all wrong',' he said. 'Or, in Erin's case, not wrong or honestly mistaken. In Erin's case she's lying.' Mr Mandy suggested that it wouldn't make sense to use a different coloured plate to identify the unpoisoned meal, when it would be far simpler to mark the pastry. Turning to Ms Patterson's illness and actions after the lunch, Mr Mandy said she had told jurors she binge ate an orange cake Gail brought and made herself sick. He suggested that because she had not claimed she vomited immediately after the lunch, or that she saw the meal in her vomit it was more likely to be the truth. The defence barrister pointed to Ms Patterson's account of adding dried mushrooms to the duxelles when preparing the dish, thinking it tasted bland. He suggested jurors might think she continued to taste the dish, after accidentally adding death caps, and this would be a 'sensible reason why Erin became unwell earlier' than the others. Mr Mandy told the jury the evidence was Ms Patterson was sick, just not as sick as Don, Gail, Heather and Ian. He said the expert evidence was people could experience a range of illness severity even after eating the same meal. On Ms Patterson's account of feeding the leftovers of the lunch to her children for dinner a day later, Mr Mandy said there was no expert evidence to back up the Crown's claim this cannot be true because they did not get sick. 'We submit to you that's another invitation to speculation; to make an assumption rather than acting on the evidence,' he said. Mr Mandy told the jury there had been no evidence in the trial about what level of exposure to death cap toxins was required to affect the body or that vomiting a meal would leave a presence of the toxins. He pointed to evidence Ms Patterson had elevated haemoglobin and fibrinogen and low potassium; which intensive care professor Andrew Bersten said supported a diarrhoeal illness. 'Medical testing revealed three different factors,' he said. 'Three things that can't be faked.' Turning to her decision to leave hospital 5 minutes after arriving on July 31, Mr Mandy explained that his client was not prepared for what she walked into. 'In our submission to you when she left the hospital at 8.10am, there is only one reasonable explanation for why that happened, and that is she had arrived thinking she would be admitted to get some fluids for gastro,' he said. Instead she was subjected to an 'extremely intense five-minute interaction' and struggled to understand what she was being told. Mr Mandy told the court his client returned after doing what she said she needed to do to prepare and was admitted. He said it was on August 1, while in hospital in Melbourne, when Ms Patterson began to panic that she would be blamed for the illnesses. Mr Mandy told the court his client was not proud of the lies she told and the decisions she made, such as taking the dehydrator to the tip, but Ms Patterson was 'not on trial for being a liar'. 'She starts panicking and she starts lying from that point,' he said. 'All of the things that she did after the lunch fall into that category and none of them … can actually change what her intention was at the time of the lunch. Either she had the intention or she didn't. 'You can't change the past because you behave badly in the future.' In the days after the lunch, the jury was told, Ms Patterson told dozens of doctors, public health authorities and police she used button mushrooms from Woolworths and dried mushrooms she had purchased in April that year from an Asian grocer in Melbourne. On the stand, she maintained this was the case but said she now believed she may have added foraged wild mushrooms to the same Tupperware container. The barrister said photos of wild mushrooms found on a SD card supported Ms Patterson's account of developing an interest in foraging and eating mushrooms during the early Covid lockdowns in 2020. Mr Mandy said this interest also explains why computer records show she briefly looked up death cap mushroom sightings on the citizen science website iNaturalist in May 2022. 'It makes perfect sense that in the context of that dawning interest … that she would become aware of death cap mushrooms,' he said. 'And the question occurred to her because she was picking mushrooms in the wild, do they grow in South Gippsland?' Mr Mandy told the jury his client did not have to take the stand, but chose to place herself under 'such an incredible amount of scrutiny' from an experienced prosecutor. 'She came through that unscathed,' he argued. 'Her account remained coherent and consistent, day after day after day, even when challenged, rapid fire, from multiple angles, repeatedly.' Finishing his closing address, the barrister argued the prosecution can't get over the high bar of beyond reasonable doubt. 'If you think at the end of your deliberations … is a possibility that this was an accident, a reasonable possibility, you must find her not guilty,' he said. The trial continues.
ABC News
2 days ago
- ABC News
How wheels of justice are turning slower in NSW after 'great flood' at Downing Centre
If the wheels of justice grind slowly, that pace has just taken a considerable hit in NSW, courtesy of an unlikely suspect: a burst water main. Sittings had just begun in one of the country's busiest court buildings on Tuesday morning when courtrooms and foyers throughout the Downing Centre's seven bustling levels were plunged into darkness. Magistrates and judges left the bench as emergency fluorescent lights activated. Bemusement perhaps described the mood in one of its largest courtrooms on level five, as lawyers made small talk during the wait for information. One magistrate returning to collect papers from the bench quipped it was "like a disco in here". Soon after, the building was evacuated and as hundreds of public servants, legal practitioners, defendants and court reporters filed down emergency exit stairs, the cause became clear. Water gushed from drains on Castlereagh Street in Sydney's CBD, which runs down one side of the former department store. It has since been revealed flooding in the lower level of the heritage-listed building caused "extensive damage" to the infrastructure, including electricity and IT equipment. On current estimates, repairs will take at least four weeks. "There is going to be a huge domino effect," Jennifer Ball, president of the Law Society of NSW, told the ABC at the end of the working week. "We've already got some backlogs … and the courts have been doing their utmost best to try to have the matters heard. "Now with this delay, with the court already being closed for two days now and for the foreseeable future until the repairs are done, we don't know how big that domino effect will be." To understand why this closure is significant, you only need to look at the sheer volume of cases that pass through the Downing Centre — tens of thousands of matters are dealt with there each year. On the day of the flooding, there were more than 500 listings. A magistrate may have 150 matters on their docket on any given sitting day in the Local Court, not to mention District Court matters and ongoing trials in that jurisdiction. Ms Ball describes the building as the "heartbeat of judicial access" for scores of people in NSW. "The disruption is quite enormous." The Department of Communities and Justice said assessment of the damage is ongoing and court staff are making "every effort to ensure matters are able to proceed wherever possible". Priority in the District Court has been placed on proceedings of some age, and where the accused is in custody. But it is "inevitable that some part-heard trials will have to be aborted", according to information handed to the NSW Bar Association from the Chief Judge of the District Court. The scramble to relist and relocate cases will have placed considerable pressure on registries and staff. Many matters have been shifted to the John Maddison Tower, on the other side of the block. One magistrate on Friday told parties appearing before her the "great flood" has meant she has completely lost access to her chambers. Jane Sanders, principal solicitor at the Shopfront Youth Legal Centre, said it's been a confusing week, particularly for clients. But professional bodies including the Bar Association and the Law Society have done their best to keep practitioners updated, as has the Department. "It has been really difficult," Ms Sanders told the ABC. "I think the courts have been working things out as they go along. "They've had to find — in a really short space of time — other courtrooms in other buildings where they can move things for defendants in criminal cases who are in custody which, unfortunately, I would say there's far too many." Thirteen people in custody in the downstairs cells of the Downing Centre had to be relocated for their safety on Tuesday. Two people had to be rescued from the lifts. Ms Sanders said she has been told of audio visual-link (AVL) appearances being cancelled on Thursday because of an impression nothing would be proceeding. "It has been a real shambles and that's no one's fault," she said "I think everybody's been doing the best they can, but having to find courtrooms and different arrangements urgently, that's been a real challenge." While Ms Sanders believes an unexpected adjournment may not be an issue particularly if someone is facing a minor criminal charge, concerns arise when a defendant is on remand and refused bail. And "kicking the can down the road for a month" may not be an option. "There's also a whole list full of cases next month. So it's not that simple," she said. It's not the first time the justice system has had to quickly adapt. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a heavier reliance was placed on AVLs and remote appearances. But Ms Sanders said the difference here is that in many cases, the proceedings need to be recorded and conducted in accordance with procedures that can only happen inside a courtroom. "Even during the COVID pandemic where all of the lawyers, the defendants, in some cases witnesses, were all dialling in from remotely, we still had magistrates and judges sitting in a courtroom with the recording equipment," she said. "With a few court staff to keep the wheels in motion with all the audio visual link equipment, all beaming into the court." If there is any silver lining to be seen from the timing of the flood, it's that next week marks a three-day annual conference for magistrates, followed by a mid-year recess the following week, for the Local Court.
