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A long saga about an $ 80 speeding ticket has ended with the victory of a man who has spent years fighting in court after police were unable to find a copy of witness evidence.
Peter Richard Prescott spent more than four years contesting the speeding ticket he received in West Auckland in July 2016.
A Superior Court judge has thrown out the conviction of the Whangaparaoa man.
Prescott was fined after police said a car registered to his company was caught at 40 mph in a 50 km / h zone in Massey. Prescott said he was not the driver or the registered owner of the car.
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Two justices of the peace in 2016 found the crime to have been proven, but Prescott defended himself.
The case escalated to Superior Court, where Judge David Collins in 2019 said Prescott’s judicial review was an abuse of process.
“The proper course was for Mr. Prescott to have requested permission to file a second appeal,” Judge Collins said.
Stuff
Peter Prescott says he’s happy with the victory on the court, but somewhat frustrated that it took so long.
So Prescott did just that.
He had to provide evidence that he was not responsible for the offense.
In his latest offer, Prescott said that the infringement notice never specified the statutory provision he allegedly violated.
He said that meant the speeding notice was faulty and the conviction could not be upheld.
But in a recently released ruling, Judge Graham Lang said a notice of violation was not necessary to specify which provision was violated.
That ground of Prescott’s appeal was dismissed.
But Prescott also said the prosecution did not identify him as the person driving the vehicle.
Judge Lang said that the prosecutor had to provide witness evidence, but police could not find an affidavit from a traffic camera operator.
DAVID WALKER / STUFF / Things
When the police couldn’t find an affidavit from a traffic camera operator, his case fell apart.
Justice Lang also raised questions about how the justices of the peace arrived at their sentence in the first place.
“The judges’ decision does not even go so far as to confirm that they received admissible evidence,” he said.
Prosecutors had a responsibility to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Prescott was the owner of the vehicle captured in the speed camera photo.
“The absence of evidence to establish how that responsibility was met leaves me in a position where I cannot be sure how or if the prosecution proved the charge,” Judge Lang said.
The appeal against the conviction was allowed and the district court judgment, a fine of $ 80 and costs of $ 30 was vacated.
Prescott said he felt justice had finally been served.
“It is up to the police to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said. Stuff.
As of November 2019, Prescott’s legal costs for the speeding ticket dispute were approaching $ 10,000.
“I never ended up paying any costs and the police didn’t follow through.”
He said that the case had taken a lot from him, but that a principle was at stake, and that he would do it again if necessary.
