Calls to probe magistrate over clerk affair, drinking claims
An unconventional love match between a 68-year-old magistrate and a 23-year-old court clerk has prompted calls for an investigation in Victoria’s magistrates’ courts.
VIC News
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The state’s judicial watchdog has been asked to investigate magistrate Rodney Higgins over his controversial affair with a young court clerk.
The unconventional love match has stirred up a storm in Victoria’s magistrates’ courts.
Mr Higgins, 68, is engaged to 23-year-old clerk Ashleigh Petrie. They carried on an affair for months while they were both in long-term relationships and living next door to each other.
Now shadow attorney-general Ed O’Donohue has written to the Judicial Commission of Victoria about Mr Higgins’ suitability as a magistrate.
Mr O’Donohue has cited fresh claims of a serious drinking problem, as well as Mr Higgins’ relationship with Ms Petrie as reasons for an investigation.
“The allegations, which if true, raise serious concerns about his capacity to perform his judicial duties,” Mr O’Donohue said.
“It has been reported to me that magistrate Higgins allegedly often drinks to excess in public.”
Mr O’Donohue said he had been told that on a recent visit to Crown casino, Mr Higgins became so drunk he fell and injured himself, and had to be taken to hospital.
He said reports of an alleged influence over Mr Higgins’ judicial decision-making also raised serious questions about his suitability.
“Judicial officers hold a very high and important office within the Victorian community, and the standards of conduct and integrity to which they are held are so much higher,” he said.
Chief Magistrate Peter Lauritsen has refused to publicly comment on the controversy surrounding Mr Higgins but has privately spoken to him.
Mr Higgins is the third magistrate to be publicly referred to the Judicial Commission of Victoria, an independent body set up in 2017 to investigate complaints about judicial officers.
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In its first year it received 264 complaints and referrals, 103 about the Magistrates’ Court.
Mr Higgins will be formally notified about the complaint and given an opportunity to respond.
Former magistrate Raj Malhotra was the first to be referred to the commission, over allegations he groped a young woman and told her he “loved her” after a night of drinking at a court staff Christmas party. He resigned.
Magistrate Richard Pithouse is still being probed by the commission over his suggestion a rape complainant suffered “buyer’s remorse”.