Magistrate overloaded
The Pilbara's "outstanding magistrate" is drowning in work, with his duties "gone well past" the capacity of a single judge.
A total of 5996 civil and criminal cases were lodged in the Magistrate's Courts and Children's Courts in the Pilbara last financial year, and the area's sole magistrate Deen Potter is also acting as district coroner.
In comparison, 4998 civil and criminal cases were lodged in the Goldfields Regions - 998 fewer than the Pilbara - which is serviced by three Kalgoorlie-based magistrates.
Mr Potter told a breakfast meeting in Port Hedland last Wednesday that he was getting "no great response" to his push to have a second magistrate instated.
He said when considering the allocation of magistrate resources across the State, nothing equated to the number of cases being heard in the Pilbara.
"It has gone well beyond that capacity of a single magistrate, I know that I'm doing two jobs," he said.
"The Kimberley has been spilt into East and West Kimberley … I have been trying to drive home that message to the powers-that-be, but so far I'm not getting a great deal of response. The reason why I am pushing that is because the court can provide a better service and what comes with magistrate placement is more services."
Karratha-based private criminal lawyer Kerrigan Mercer slammed the Pilbara court system for being the most under-resourced she had encountered.
She said trials were frequently adjourned on trial day due to over-listings, despite a six to nine-month wait for that date, and a further six-month wait for a re-listed date.
"The court list here is choked… this has negative repercussions for (people) accused, victims, practitioners and court staff," she said.
"In contrast, a trial date in Perth could be as soon as three months after an accused's first appearance.
"The Pilbara and Carnarvon circuits could and should be split to make the additional magistrate viable. Onslow is only going to grow and Tom Price needs more court days."
Ms Mercer's comments were reiterated by fellow Karratha-based counsel Adam Oswald.
"Magistrate Potter is an outstanding magistrate … I support his stance that the workload in the Pilbara is such that Karratha Court should have a dedicated full-time magistrate," he said.
When asked by the _Telegraph _ if the Department of the Attorney-General planned to place a second magistrate in the Pilbara, a spokeswoman said, "the department continues to monitor the workload in Karratha and considers options to assist with the increasing workload".
Based in South Hedland, Magistrate Potter is responsible for eight Magistrate's Courts across the Pilbara.
He circuits to Karratha and Roebourne once a month for up to three days, Newman twice a month, Yandeyarra three times a year, and Jigalong, Nullagine and Marble Bar once each every two months.
At the breakfast meeting last week, Mr Potter said in 12 months, 9600 charges, or about 420 individual criminal cases each month came through the Pilbara courts, with criminal court lists of 80 to 100 people a day commonplace.
"I know I've got a list of 100 people. I wouldn't want to be that 100th person on the list and be dismissed because the Magistrate is tired," Mr Potter said.
"I am tired and I can tell you that, but that person who is number 100 on the list gets the same attention and respect as number one on the list."
For one week a month, a magistrate travels from Perth to relieve in the Karratha/Roebourne courts to reduce the criminal case load.
But, Pilbara Community Legal Service principal solicitor Colin Baker said the backlog of cases forced the service to file urgent civil matters in Perth.
"There are certain matters that we should be able to get heard in Karratha but because of time constraints we can't. The magistrate really can't allocate time if he has a full criminal list," he said. "So where we would hope to have matters listed for a hearing they will instead be sent to Perth or initially we will just lodge them in Perth."
A lawyer for 26 years, Mr Baker said there was no provision for PCLS lawyers to fly to Perth, so after they had exhausted telephone appearances they were forced to transfer cases to another legal aid office or find counsel down in Perth.
"In my experience, there are not sufficient court dates (in Karratha)," he said.
"It makes it difficult for people, there are lots of court matters that happen that may seem insufficient, but are important for the people involved."
