JUSTICE FOR LORRAINE SHARP

Our lead candidate for Wagga Wagga City Council, Lorraine Sharp, found herself wrongly convicted today in her local Magistrates Court on trespass and intimidation charges. Ms Sharp disputes the matters absolutely and will appeal to the District Court as soon as the sentencing is determined in seven weeks time.

These charges have been outstanding for a year and resulted from an incident at the Wagga Wagga Hospital. After raising her voice to a member of the nursing staff about the presence of a notorious Wagga Wagga criminal in the room where her daughter was present (giving birth), Lorraine was the subject of a garbled direction to leave, soon backed up by two security guards who frog marched her out to the street. She was then charged by Wagga Wagga Police with intimidating the nurse.

Rumours reaching us after the proceedings today, suggest that the nurse, who is known as a contrary individual to hospital staff, has opted to claim "victim's injury compensation". Did this condition today's evidence which was certainly more colourful than her police statement?

In consultation this afternoon with a legal adviser in Australia First Party, Lorraine will complain to the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner. Lorraine said:

"Im not a person trained to law and certain matters went by me. Essentially, I sacked my private solicitor paid by Legal Aid - an hour too late. I found my essential, pivitol, instructions, just plain ignored".

Wagga Wagga Legal Aid is a social disaster area. The solicitor who represented Lorraine Sharp was the seventh who had attended upon the case. The essential advice of all was to plead guilty and give an "explanation" to the court. In some cases, it was agreed "the explanation" might be a defence, but that it was all "too risky" and guilty pleas were always the best policy.

Lorraine has witnessed over the many months a sad pattern with Wagga Wagga Legal Aid. The long queue of clients paraded through the justice mincer are invariably told to plead guilty, whether they are guilty or not and friendly prosecutors make it all so easy. No one cares and young people, poor people, Aboriginal people, mentally confused people have convictions for petty drivel piled one upon the other upon them until their "character" is said to be "bad" - and naturally they are unemployable forever.

To ask Wagga Wagga Legal Aid to defend a case is next to hopeless and people would be advised to avoid it.

The case of Lorraine Sharp has sinister aspects. One of the arresting officers who conveyed her to Wagga Wagga Police Station to be charged assaulted her as the video of the cells complex would reveal (but the video has been "damaged", they said and no longer available). An agreed story came into being that she was "drugged" and may have had to be "restrained". The point in fact is Lorraine suffers from anaphaylaxis, two auto immune diseases and had pleurisy at the time, all which to the unknowing might indicate on the odd ocassion when a problem manifests (as had it in the days or so prior to the alleged incident) - a drugged countenance. The same officer went on to sexually assault another of her daughters outside a city hotel some three days later in a matter police have decided not to investigate (even though the Police Integrity Commission instructed them to do so). Inspector Cullen said to Lorraine 'one mistake doesn't make him a bad person". Inspector Cullen is female.

Wagga Wagga Police has a sad recent history with deaths in custody and other irregularities. Wagga Wagga Legal Aid needs to be purged. An Attorney General's task force should examine false convictions in Wagga Wagga. Will anything be addressed? We doubt it. The entire legal fraternity have a vested interest in this and remain silent.

At the appeal, which may not come on until next year, nothing will be held back. The defence will run as it should have been.

Lorraine Sharp said:
"I have a defence to the charges and I will run this defence. I will conduct the defence in person. Whatever dangers that is said to have, I could do little worse. The real fool in Wagga Wagga is the client who takes a Legal Aid solicitor".