No jury trial for man accused of murdering ballerina fiancee
Friday 18 October 2013 @ 9.12 a.m. | Crime
39-year-old Simon Gittany is accused of throwing his fiancee, Canadian-born ballerina Lisa Harnum, off the balcony of their Hyde Park apartment. Now, he has told the court that he has run out of money to fund his defence, and is at risk of having to represent himself. The legal bill is said to be approaching $500,000 in total, despite Gittany having dropped one senior counsel.
He has now been granted a judge-alone trial, set to begin on Monday, because it will be two weeks shorter than a jury trial and will allow him to save money on legal representation.
Gittany has been refused legal aid, having failed to meet the requirements. He has borrowed money from friends and family, but says he is still short of cash - $280,000, to be exact.
Justice Lucy McCallum stressed that "trial by a judge alone is not available for the asking," and allowing it in this case wasn't done just to accomodate the accused. Rather, it was in the public interest, because the trial would have to be adjourned if Mr Gittany was forced to represent himself, and Ms Harnum's mother had flown from Canada. The key eyewitness, a passer-by at the time of Ms Harnum's death, would also be unavailable in the case of delay.
Mr Gittany claims that his fiancee committed suicide by jumping off the balcony, possibly while in a mentally impaired state. The Crown says he flew into a fit of rage and threw her off the balcony because she had told him she was leaving him.
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