(Open Letter to the Chief Justice)
Dear Dame Sian Elias,
Although not a lawyer, I have a Law degree and have been affected
by such behaviour when acting in a quasi-legal capacity, so I bring
these matters to your attention. It is important to emphasise that two
of the three perpetrators were women and one was a man, because the
New Zealand media and justice and political systems are rife with the
predetermination that women are victims and men are perpetrators.
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In 2005, while doing my Professionals through the online College
of Law, I had to observe an actual court case, so I did that at
the Wellington High Court and (after bypassing the resistance of
a female court official) I managed to get permission from the Justice,
get into a courtroom and sit at the back (of course). The presiding
Justice was a White female, whose name I have forgotten, and with
her was a Maori woman, who appeared to be her Registrar. I am a
high-profile person and many women seem to treat high-profile men
as sex objects, which was presumably the reason why these two women
appeared to look at me, smile and talk to each other about me. After
I left the courtroom, the Maori woman turned up near me and seemed
to want to get to know me personally. I made no overtures. There
was no physical contact or inappropriate language. However, I do
not think that those two women should have used their positions
to behave in that way.
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In 2014, I represented myself at the Court of Appeal. The reference
is [2015] NZCA 17 CA630/2014. The Justices were Wild, MacKenzie
and Lang JJ. Before the hearing, a female official came and did
something at the workspace of the Justice who would be right in
front of me (i.e. on the left, from my perspective). Then she made
a loud, rude noise, as if intending to convey some message by doing
that. For some minutes before the hearing, I could see these three
male Justices in the "wings" -- just off-stage -- and
the one who would be sitting in front of me (not Justice Wild, who
I seem to remember as being a student politician during my early
student days at Victoria University of Wellington) kept ogling me
and doing things with his mouth, in a very good impression of being
sexually attracted to me. During the hearing, Justice Wild lost
his temper with me because of one particular point that I had made,
which he disagreed with, but he did not say or do anything otherwise
inappropriate. I think I had learnt at Law School that counsel just
have to put up with such behaviour in Judges, so I did not react
negatively in any way. A possibly relevant factor is that the case
involved a totally fabricated allegation of disorderly behaviour
and assault, for which I had been convicted, and it is conceivable
that the behaviour of the Justices at that hearing constituted some
kind of test of my behaviour under pressure.
I do not request any action as a result of this communication to you,
which is sent purely for the purpose of informing you and anyone else
who reads it.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Zohrab
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