Jail for contempt; sentence quashed
PA Blenheim The words “You are not God. . . ” shouted at a magistrate in his court yesterday brought a sentence of 48 hours imprisonment for the man who shouted them. .Mr K. H. J. Headifen, sentenced Robert Gill Thomson for contempt of court after he shouted the words from the public gallery of the Magistrate’s Court at Blenheim yesterday morning. The incident occurred just after the Magistrate had sentenced a Blenheim housewife, Julie Edith Pitcher, aged 26, to six months jail on two charges of theft related to shoplifting. “Mr Headifen. she did not take anything." Thomson called out immediately this sentence was passed.
1 “If you interrupt my court again/you may well follow | her,” the Magistrate warned. “You are not God,” Thomson replied. ‘Bring him forward,” the Magistrate said. “That comment amounts to a contempt of court. Do you wish to serve a prison sentence?” Thomson: It is up to you. The Magistrate: Very well. You will serve 48 hours in prison. Later, Mr P. J. Radich, a lawyer, said Thomson wanted his case reviewed. The Magistrate said he was prepared to do so immediately, but as Thomson was already in the cells he could not appear again until the afternoon. When he did, Mr Radich offered an apology on behalf of Thomson. The Magistrate then quashed the earlier sentence:
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Press, 2 August 1979, Page 2
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225Jail for contempt; sentence quashed Press, 2 August 1979, Page 2
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