TWO lengthy emails from controversial online blogger Nick Fletcher to the chief magistrate were not enough to convince Magistrate Ian White to disqualify himself from hearing the remainder of the case on Friday afternoon.
Nicholas Francis Fletcher, 51, did not appear in the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court for the third straight day as the trial, relating to 18 charges of publishing information about a person subject to a complaint, continued.
Instead, two emails addressed to Chief Magistrate Mary-Louise Hribal were sent to the court registry requesting Magistrate White to dismiss himself because of bias against the defendant.
Magistrate White ruled against the application to disqualify himself and the hearing continued in Fletcher’s absence.
“The defendant’s extensive communications with the court are relevant in continuing the trial in his absence,” Magistrate White said.
Magistrate White said the emails did not detract from the decision to continue, but instead added weight to the argument the defendant could have attended the remainder of the trial.
The trial continued with the prosecution delivering its closing submissions regarding the evidence heard in the case.
Magistrate White made a point of saying when assessing the evidence he would not be affected by content in the emails from Fletcher, which could have been seen as “insulting and disrespectful” towards him.
Following the closing statement from the prosecution, Magistrate White reserved his judgment, which will be handed down at another hearing scheduled for February 28.
