R v McLachlan: How Lois McPherson and Lorraine Martin perverted the course of justice.
During a trial, a support person is meant to sit quietly next to a complainant giving evidence. Instead, Lois McPherson fed Lorraine Martin answers.
Lorraine Martin claimed that I attacked and robbed her. I filmed her attack me. When shown the four photographs that I took showing that she charged at me and used her camera as a weapon to break my nose, she became cantankerous in the witness stand.
Overnight, she was still under oath and was required to not discuss the case with anyone, share evidence with anyone, or research anything related to the case. The following day, she returned for the second half of her cross examination. She provided this written note to Constable Fairbrass, who handed it to the Crown Prosecutor:
Clearly, Lorraine Martin had discussed the case with someone else and received advice. But who?
The Crown Prosecutor brought the note to the attention of the Court. The Judge and Crown Prosecutor said to me that, if I applied for a mistrial, they would not oppose it. It was a clear case of perverting the course of justice, which was a crime under the Crimes Act:
In the circumstances, I had waited over two and a half years for my case to go to trial and I wanted a result. Without limiting my ability later to file a police complaint for perverting the course of justice, I suggested that the note be used as evidence so it could be used by the Defence during cross examination and the Crown Prosecutor during re-examination. The judge agreed.
With the note now in the hands of defence barrister Tudor Clee, he asked Lorraine Martin about it:
This is the photo number 13 referred to from the defence exhibits:
There are several key parts to this exchange:
That photos that I took were "seen by a local";
That the dog in the photos, Maggie, was "terrified";
That Lorraine Martin was told "they didn't tell me, they told someone else"; and
That "everybody talked about the incident in Snells Beach."
Let's start with what the photos show and why they were taken.
On 9 September 2021, I tied my dog to a fence while I took photos of the foreshore for a friend. Someone unleashed my dog, June Turner took a photo of my dog off leash, she fled the scene up Kokihi Lane, she sent a complaint to the council, and I received a $300 fine from the council. That fine was then waived.
On 18 September 2021, I caught Lorraine Martin tampering with my dog who was tied to the same fence. When I tried to take photos of her, she charged at me and attacked me with her camera. Paul Shanahan then appeared on the scene and convinced a group that I had attacked Lorraine Martin. I was then charged with assault and robbery.
On 1 October 2021, my lawyer asked me to take photographs of the scene on 1 October 2021. I asked a friend to be nearby and film anything suspicious. I started by tying my dog to the same fence. These are the photos that I took, complete with their metadata:
As you can see, Maggie isn't terrified. She is calmly sitting and waiting for me.
So, who are these "locals" who witnessed this terrifying incident?
Let's start with this lady. She was seen fleeing the scene with a phone in her hand:
As it turns out, a lady fitting her description followed me around on 9 September 2021:
Then there was this lady, deviating from the footpath behind the tree and heading towards Maggie:
This lady and the previous lady lived on the other side of Snells Beach and just happened to be in the same place at the same time. They were also neighbours with the founder of the Snells Beach Ratepayers and Residents Association (SBRRA) and regional coordinator of Neighbourhood Support.
Moments before, the lady was sitting in her blue Honda Fit:
See that building behind her vehicle? Minutes later, Maggie was tied to the fence behind the tree to the right of the photograph and I was behind that building (Bayside Café) taking photos of Maggie. The lady in the blue Honda Fit, Dilys Parry, then decided to get out of her car, walk towards my dog, reach for her collar, changed her mind when she saw me behind the building, and then left the scene. Minutes later, she returned to the area and waited until these two appeared:
Yup, that's June and Roger Turner. June was also a founder of the SBRRA. June was instructed by the police to stay away from me as she was a witness who had given them a police statement. So, what did June Turner do?
That's right, she stayed and had a chat at the very spot where Maggie was tied up on previous occasions and then recorded information on her smartphone.
So, that's four vigilantes who just happened to be in the area within minutes of me making a random visit to the same area of the 9 and 18 September 2021 incidents. What an extraordinary coincidence.
Let's not forget that June Turner claimed the following in her sworn police statement:
That's right. Despite claiming to not know Lorraine Martin, she accepted the camera of a vigilante from a witness, John Keast. Here is what John Keast said in his witness statement:
Obviously, June Turner knew several old ladies and people did give her information.
Did I miss anyone?
Who's that?
Here's another photo taken 32 seconds later:
My defence exhibits didn't include these two photos, so Lorraine Martin wrote the note thinking that there weren't any other photos. Meanwhile, the person in these two photos just happened to be in the courtroom wearing the same top and same type of surgical mask. In fact, the person was the only person in the courtroom during the trial to wear a mask. That person was Lois McPherson.
So, Lorraine Martin misled the court that the "local" who saw a "terrified" Maggie on 1 October 2021 was in fact sitting right next to her as her support person. That makes Lois McPherson a party to her offence of perverting the course of justice.
So, who is Lois McPherson? She lives on Kokihi Lane only 150 metres away from the three incidents and three houses away from Paul Shanahan. Small world.
Lois also lives a few doors away from Bayside Café, which is where June Turner took her photo of Maggie off leash on 9 September 2021. Did June and Roger flee the scene to Lois' home?
When Bayside Café sought a liquor licence, this is what Lois had to say about it (click to enlarge):
It appeared that Lois wasn't alone in objecting the liquor licence due to the effect that patrons might have on the dotterels and godwits:
Lois was part of a coordinated campaign of bird enthusiasts, even though the council officer said that the birds was an irrelevant consideration outside the liquor laws. Anything else?
Lois was also a bird enthusiast who patrolled the area.
Lorraine Martin maintained that she acted alone, hadn't patrolled before 18 September 2021, and didn't know Paul Shanahan. Yet, she was sitting right next to someone who hadn't acted alone, had patrolled before, and knew Paul Shanahan. Furthermore, when Lorraine Martin said "everybody talked about the incident in Snells Beach", she was referring to a vigilante network who were involved in the three incidents in three weeks targeting me and my dog at the same location.
Tudor Clee continued his cross examination of Lorraine Martin with Lois McPherson at her side:
Clearly Lois did know something "about that" and didn't want Lorraine Martin to tell the court "about that."
This was unprecedented. Never before had a support person whispered answers to a person giving evidence in the witness box. Immediately, Tudor Clee prompted the Court to what just happened. The Crown Prosecutor and Registrar heard what Lois McPherson said. The judge heard something but wasn't sure what was said.
Lois McPherson claims that she said "shh". She then claimed that anyone who claimed that she said anything else was lying. Not a good move.
The judge retired, looking for a legal precedent that would advise on how to proceed. He, the registrar, the Crown Prosecutor, and Tudor Clee couldn't find any remotely similar situations.
The judge and Crown Prosecutor again said that if I sought a mistrial, they wouldn't oppose it. This was getting too much. How many more times would the witnesses and their support people sabotage the trial?
I told the judge again that I wanted a result from the trial. The judge ruled that the support person would no longer be allowed in the courtroom, that a judicial minute would record what just happened, and that it could be used in a police complaint later.
I was acquitted. Tudor Clee then lodged a complaint with the police. Watch this space.
This is just one example of the antics of vigilantes in my book Unleashed: Sex, rackets & vigilantes in New Zealand's most corrupted community.