SA Supreme Court permits lawyer Catherine Jayne Moyse to resume working following ex-magistrate Bob Harrap corruption case

This lawyer avoided jail over Bob Harrap’s corruption and has now been permitted to return to work – even as an appeal that could see her penalty increased looms.

Back to work: Lawyer Catherine Jayne Moyse leaves the Supreme Court after being permitted to practise again following a corruption prosecution. Picture: Sean Fewster.

A lawyer who avoided a conviction for her role in ex-magistrate Bob Harrap’s corrupt actions has been allowed to resume her career – just days before a bid to increase her penalty.

On Friday, the Supreme Court permitted Catherine Jayne Moyse to return, under strict conditions and monitoring, to practising law.

Its decision follows the drafting of consent orders by the legal profession’s peak bodies, who have been negotiating for several months over Moyse’s professional future.

Justice Tim Stanley said he was satisfied, having read submissions from the Law Society and Legal Practitioner’s Commission, that Moyse was “a fit and proper person” to be a lawyer.

Moyse, 49, is the daughter of corrupt former SA Police inspector Barry Moyse.

She pleaded guilty to conspiring with Harrap to abuse his public office by going to him for advice on handling a client’s demerit point appeal.

The District Court ruled Harrap “adversely influenced” and “misled” her, sparing her a conviction and fining her $600.

Former Magidstrate Bob Harrap. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards.

For hearing that case himself despite the conflict of interest, and for lying about his own speeding fines, Harrap was jailed for 18 months with a 12-month non-parole period.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has filed appeals against both penalties as being manifestly inadequate – those appeals will be heard next week.

Moyse is the second lawyer in the past 12 months to have admitted serious criminal offending and been allowed to keep their job.

In December, Andrew Robert Graham – who tried to bribe a security guard who caught him snorting cocaine in a toilet – was also permitted to resume practise by the court.

Graham, 36, of Vale Park, pleaded guilty to administering a controlled drug to another person and to attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Facing a maximum 10-year prison term, $50,000 fine or both, Graham was released on a 12-month bond.