Jury mishap in part due to ‘the nature of Morwell’published at 07:01 BST
07:01 BST
Simon Atkinson
Australia producer
The jury ending up in a hotel with other members of the case certainly is unusual – and in the words of the defence, a “catastrophic” accident.
But the public prosecutor has explained it away as “one of those things that happened because of the nature of Morwell”.
Having spent weeks there during the trial I can see what he means.
Each week the small town in Victoria, a couple of hours south west of Melbourne, was inundated with lawyers, police and especially media.
Finding places to stay was hard, especially as the trial dragged on and stays became longer than anyone anticipated.
And it was not helped by a big table tennis tournament taking place nearby – meaning most accommodation was chock-a-block, even in nearby locations.
My small team had to move from hotel to motel, and occasionally to a completely different town.
So finding somewhere for a jury of 12, plus their jury keepers, to stay on a moving timetable was very likely a logistical nightmare.