Fugitive lawyer and former Liberal Party president John Malcolm West unfit to stand trial, court hears

The case of an ex-lawyer and former top SA Liberal – who fled the country in 1988 after allegedly siphoning $87,000 – has hit a surprising new twist.

Former SA Liberal Party president John Malcolm West, then 37, at the police watch-house after arriving in Adelaide to face fraud charges in 1985.

A former lawyer and state Liberal Party president who fled overseas for 34 years will be declared unfit to stand trial and be released on home detention bail, a court has heard.

John Malcolm West, 74, fled Australia as he was due to stand trial on 27 counts of fraudulent conversion over the alleged misappropriation of $87,000 in July 1988.

Despite multiple attempts to locate Mr West and return him to Australia authorities were unable to enforce a warrant for his arrest until March this year when he returned to the country and his daughter made a request for Medicare on his behalf.

On Tuesday, prosecutors told the District Court they would concede Mr West, who the court has previously heard suffered from Alzheimer’s or early onset dementia, was unfit to stand trial.

John Malcolm West is taken into a Cairns court for a bail application hearing in 1985. (Brisbane Courier pic)

“We can foreshadow there will be a concession that he is unfit to stand trial,” prosecutor James Watson said.

Stephen Ey, for Mr West, said he could foreshadow that the objective elements of the offending alleged against his client would be agreed.

He told the court Mr West would seek release on home detention bail, which prosecutors would not oppose if strict conditions including a guarantor and cash surety were imposed.

Mr West’s alleged offending occurred between August 1981 and December 1984 and allegedly included siphoning money intended for a trust fund.

The court has previously heard he skipped the country and was travelling on an Irish passport to countries including Botswana, Zimbabwe and France and worked as a flight trainer.

Mr West married former Olympic sprinter and PE teacher Verna Bernard, who competed in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. She had left the country on a commercial flight around the same time.

Verna Burnard leaves the court building in 1985.

Mr Ey had told the court at an earlier hearing that he had “grave concerns” about his client’s ability to stand trial due to his declining health.

“This matter is going to take some time, even then given his deterioration it is doubtful a trial will ever take place,” Mr Ey had told the court.

At the conclusion of the hearing, when presiding Judge Paul Muscat asked Mr West if he understood what had happened during the hearing Mr West, who appeared via video link from prison, laughed.

Judge Muscat said Mr West would be brought to court on Friday to sign his bail paperwork for release.

The matter will proceed to a trial next year before Judge Muscat who will make formal determinations about Mr West’s mental competence and the objective elements before setting a limiting term.