It is said that when " justice is delayed - then justice is denied ".
At this moment, anyone charged with an offence in Wollongong will not have a hope of going to trial before May or June next year, and that is if there is no further delay caused by unexpected circumstances.
It has been suggested that the situation could be relieved by opening a second court, but this has been rejected - because there are not enough public prosecutors to prepare cases for trial.
This area requires the services of three public prosecutors. It has just two as one is on extended sick leave - and the office of the director of Public Prosecutions has no plans for appointing a relief officer. Budget restraint is the quoted reason !
Perhaps now would be a good time to examine " cause and effect " from that decision.
When there is delay in bringing the accused to court many defendants will spend time behind bars on remand. Not only is this an infringement on the accused's right to " innocent until proved guilty " - but it costs the state a lot of money.
Running a prison is expensive. To incarcerate a person on remand is far more expensive than the salary of a single prosecutor - who could get the court system moving again and reduce trial delays.
Once again an example of the " bean counters " approach to decision making, which suffers from that well known adage - " penny wise - and pound foolish ".
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