Jury to retire tomorrow over invasion of Chief Minister’s office

The trial into the August 1, 2002 ‘invasion’ of Northern Territory Chief Minister Clare Martin’s electorate office will wind up tomorrow.

Closing submissions will be heard in the morning before the jury retires to reach its verdict.

Gary Meyerhoff, a member of the Darwin-based drug law reform group, the Network Against Prohibition (NAP), represented himself in the trial before Justice Trevor Riley and a jury of his peers in the NT Supreme Court.

Meyerhoff stands charged with the new ‘business invasion’ offence (section 226b of the NT Criminal Code), introduced by the Martin Government in late 2001.

If he is found guilty, he faces up to seven years imprisonment.

Three more NAP members were also charged with the offence.

Nicolette Burrows and Ema Corro agreed to plead guilty to the charge of trespass and the 'business invasion' charge did not proceed against them.

The fourth defendant, Rob Inder-Smith, is unable to be in the NT due to circumstances beyond his control. He will be tried at a later date.

The charge results from a peaceful protest against the NT Government’s ‘drug house’ laws which came into force on August 1, 2002.

The ‘drug house’ laws have been labelled draconian by community activists, legal practitioners and medical professionals.

The protesters were also trying to raise the plight of Dr Henry Pang and his 40 patients. Pang was targeted by the NT Government for prescribing S8 pain medication to his patients. His patients had been given one week to find a new GP.

The matter is being heard in Court 5 at the NT Supreme Court in Darwin.

For more information call Stuart or Gary on 0415 16 2525 (+61 415 16 2525 from os), Crown Prosecutor Nathan Crafti on (08) 8999 7533 (+61 8 8999 7533 from os), the Department of the Chief Minister on (08) 8901 4000 (+61 8 8901 4000 from os) or see the NAP website.

To read more about the peaceful occupation of Clare Martin’s office click here.

To view photographs of the demonstration, see the following links: http://www.napnt.org/images/PICT012.jpg http://www.napnt.org/images/PICT014.jpg http://www.napnt.org/images/PICT015.jpg http://www.napnt.org/images/PICT016.jpg http://www.napnt.org/images/PICT017.jpg http://www.napnt.org/images/PICT019.jpg http://www.napnt.org/images/PICT020.jpg http://www.napnt.org/images/PICT021.jpg

For more information about the NT ‘drug house’ laws click here.