‘Sarcastic’ judge denied man fair trial

A “sarcastic’’ federal judge ­interrupted a man’s case in such an “egregious’’ way that he denied him a fair trial.

Federal Circuit Court judge Salvatore Vasta.

A federal judge was “sarcastic, disparaging and dismissive” and ­interrupted a business operator’s case in such an “egregious” way that he denied the man a fair trial when he jailed him for 12 months for contempt of court.

Federal Circuit Court judge Salvatore Vasta imposed a 12-month jail sentence on Queensland business operator Leigh Alan Jorgensen and slapped him with a $85,000 fine in May last year. The full Federal Court yesterday overturned that decision, ruling Judge Vasta’s “excessive and unwarranted interventions” in the trial had denied Mr Jorgensen procedural fairness and struck “at the validity and acceptability of the trial and its outcome”.

Mr Jorgensen, the owner-­operator of Cairns company Trek North Tours, had been pursued by the Fair Work Ombudsman for transferring company funds into a trust account instead of paying fines and compensating his workers for underpayment, in breach of a freezing order secured against his company in 2015.

Mr Jorgensen spent 10 nights behind bars before lodging an ­appeal against his conviction and sentence. In a unanimous judgment, judges Andrew Greenwood, John Reeves and Michael Wigney yesterday set his conviction for contempt aside and sent the matter back for retrial.

The full Federal Court said many of the questions put by Judge Vasta were in “an unfair or inadmissable form and would have been objectionable if asked by counsel”.

“Not only did his Honour conduct much of the cross-examination, he also appeared openly hostile to Mr Jorgensen, was at times disparaging and sarcastic, commented on the evidence while it was being given and, not only ­belittled the case advanced in Mr Jorgensen’s defence, but made ‘obvious to all his profound dis­belief in the defence being ­advanced’,” the judges said.

At one point, Judge Vasta had threatened Mr Jorgensen with fresh charges of contempt if he did not answer his questions and when he didn’t understand said, “what, am I talking Swahili?”  Judge Vasta also asked Mr Jorgensen if he would “razzle dazzle us like Billy Flynn in Chicago” and “have the big bamboozler right at the end”.

It’s not the first time the Brisbane-based judge has come under fire on appeal. The full Family Court earlier this year labelled Judge Vasta’s decision to jail a ­father of two for contempt as an “affront to justice”.

The man, who had two children aged five and nine, spent six days in a maximum-security prison on suicide watch before he  was released pending his appeal.  Judge Vasta told the man, ­involved in a property dispute with his former wife, to “bring your toothbrush” after he allegedly failed to hand over financial records.

Judge Vasta has also been criticised on appeal for his hostility to litigants in family law matters and for making orders on his own motion.

A spokesman for the Law Council of Australia said yesterday’s judgment by the full Federal Court, at face value, “raised matters of concern about the conduct of the judicial officer, which has been the subject of previous statements by the Law Council”.

“This judgment will be carefully reviewed by the Law Council,” she said.

Judge Vasta’s appointment to the Federal Circuit Court was ­announced by the Coalition on December 11, 2014 — the same day as fellow judge Sandy Street, who has drawn repeated fire on appeal.

Justice Street has had more than 70 judgments overturned and has been found to have thrown out cases without proper consideration.