District Court Judge Stephen McEwen hits out SA’s justice system delays, saying he is ‘embarrassed’ to be part of it

A JUDGE has lashed out at delays in the justice system, saying if “the medical profession was like the legal profession, we would all be dead”.

District Court Judge Stephen McEwen has lashed out at delays in the justice system during sentencing submission for two men charged with assault.

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A JUDGE has condemned delays in the South Australian justice system, saying he is embarrassed to be part of a profession that allowed a trivial assault case to drag on for more than three years.

District Court Judge Stephen McEwen’s extraordinary outburst came during sentencing submissions for two men who flicked ingredients from a sandwich at a stranger on a train in 2014.

“We all work in the system and the system is atrocious,” Judge McEwen told the court last Thursday.

“Are you not embarrassed that we are right now hearing sentencing submissions on something that happened in May 2014?

“I tell you what, if the medical profession was like the legal profession, we’d all be dead.

“If architecture was like the legal profession, we would all be living on the streets because there would be no standing houses.

“I could go on. If medical engineers were like lawyers, we wouldn’t be able to drive across a bridge.”

The comments were made in the case of Jason Daniel Grant and Joshua Adam Smith.

Grant, 34, pleaded guilty to three counts, while Smith, 23, admitted to two, after they assaulted their victim by flicking part of a sandwich at him, using a finger under a jumper to mimic a gun and poked him with an umbrella.

Judge McEwen said he could not believe the matter had taken three years to reach this point.

“As usual that will be absolutely no one’s fault, I know that. And it will be absolutely unavoidable, I know that,” he said.

“But if I were these two blokes, especially your client (Smith), I would be wondering, ‘why wasn’t this matter dealt with in the Magistrates Court within about three months’.”

He asked defence lawyer Jane Powell, for Smith, if she was embarrassed.

She stated that she was not personally embarrassed, but agreed the culture of delays was “not good enough”.

“I’m not embarrassed at all because I received a brief on Friday that I had never seen or heard of,” she said.

“I spoke to Mr Smith on the weekend and on Monday I turned up and the matter was resolved. I feel no personal embarrassment, if I can put it that way.”

Judge McEwen replied: “Of course you don’t, it’s not my fault either. But I’m prepared to sit here and say, as a judge, I’m embarrassed.

“It’s not my fault, (I had) never heard of these punters until they bobbed up here and pleaded guilty.

“But I still am embarrassed to work in a system, and I’ll keep saying that to every counsel I have a chance to say it to, until we do much, much better. Anyway, thank you, I’ve got that off my chest.”

He also told the court that defendants needed to get a guilty plea “over with early” and stop “dodging”, “weaving” and pretending that the offence “didn’t happen”.

“You’ll get a lot better deal — now spread the word would you, please,” he said.

Prosecutor Ceit Deane said there had been attempts to resolve the matter earlier but there were difficulties getting instructions from Grant and Smith, as well as warrants being issued for their arrest.

But Judge McEwen replied: “Same old, same old.”

Commissioner for Victims Rights Michael O’Connell said some court delays were unavoidable, others were unnecessary, while others could be deliberate.

“Reform such as offering defendants significant discounts if they enter early guilty pleas seeks to reduce such delay and arguably means victims do not have the matter hanging over their heads,” he said.

“Both court delay and the reform, however, can have a detrimental impact on victims of crime.”

Law Society of SA president Tony Rossi would not comment on this case but agreed there were “unacceptable delays”, caused by the failure of successive governments to invest in the justice system.

He said a shortage of judges, courtrooms, along with unnecessarily complex legislative changes, archaic court technology and cuts to legal aid funding, had created “a perfect storm of ballooning case lists”.

Opposition spokesman Stephen Wade said Judge McEwen was right to call out the problem of serious delays in the legal system.

“The outrageous delays in the South Australian legal system let down victims and end up costing taxpayers — justice delayed is justice denied,” he said.

A spokeswoman for Attorney-General John Rau said he had not had the opportunity to consider Judge McEwen’s remarks in detail and wasn’t in a position to comment.

His Honour’s opinions

NOVEMBER 2010

As senior Youth Court Judge, he refused to jail an 11-year-old joy-rider unless someone from Families SA shared a cell with him. “You’ve got a lad here who the department want me to jail — the very same department who did not do what I required of them,” said Judge McEwen, right.

FEBRUARY 2013

Again in the Youth Court, he levelled scathing criticism against the Department for Education and Child Development — formerly Families SA. “I’m just sick and tired of that entire department being obstructive control freaks, constantly throwing up pseudo-reasons dressed up in social work-speak for refusing to just have a look at the blindingly obvious.” He was hearing the case of a boy, 14, charged with trespassing and theft offences.

AUGUST 2017

In the District Court, Judge McEwen questioned the value of publication bans in the digital age, refusing to suppress details about a defendant available on the internet, saying they will be read “irrespective” of any ban on newspaper, radio and TV reports.