Judge recuses herself from prison riot case after Don Dale ruling overturned by the High Court

The judge hearing the case of three men accused of being involved in rioting at Holtze Prison that caused $20 million in damage has recused herself from further involvement.

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THE judge hearing the case of three men accused of being involved in rioting at Holtze Prison that caused $20 million in damage has recused herself from any further involvement.

Clinton Price, Kieran Webster and David Risk were each due to plead guilty in the Supreme Court on Monday before the hearing was adjourned when their lawyers couldn’t reach an agreement with the prosecution on the facts of the offending.

“I think we’re not too far away from getting some facts agreed,” Webster’s lawyer Marty Aust said.

“There’s just some sensitivities, obviously, in relation to who had knowledge of various things that were going on.”

Mr Aust also requested Justice Judith Kelly recuse herself from hearing the case when it next returned to court as she had been the presiding judge who ruled against Webster in a civil suit against the NT government.

Webster and three other former Don Dale detainees had sued the government over their treatment in Don Dale but Justice Kelly found the guards’ actions were largely “reasonable and necessary”.

The four former detainees appealed the ruling to the High Court which last year overturned Justice Kelly’s decision and remitted the case to be reheard by a different judge.

Webster, Price and Risk will return to court next month.

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