Craig Kapitan: NZ Herald crime reporter on ex-Green MP Golriz Ghahraman being convicted for shoplifting

What's next for former Green MP Golriz Ghahraman's legal career is not yet determined - after being convicted on shoplifting charges today.

Judge June Jelas has ordered her to pay $1600 in fines, plus $260 in court costs, and isn't requiring supervision.

The Herald's Craig Kapitan says nothing's stopping her applying for her law licence again.

He says her lawyer had insistently argued a conviction would be a significant hurdle to convincing the Law Society she's fit to practice.

"The Crown noted that a conviction doesn't necessarily mean she's automatically barred, the Law Society would have to look at the whole picture, like the judge did."

LISTEN ABOVE

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Golra's garment has been convicted for theft. She'd ask for
a discharge without conviction, but Judge June Jealous denied that application. Instead,
she was fined sixteen hundred dollars when she was convicted.
Then she was fined sixteen hundred dollars, and then she
was ordered to pay court costs of two hundred and
sixty dollars. Herald reporter Craig Capitan was in court for
US High Craig, Hi, Heather, how are you very well?
Thank you. Did the judge say why she didn't buy

(00:21):
the discharge without conviction argument?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, no, she didn't in court. Actually she hasn't yet
released her full simmencing notes, but she did say simply
that the statutory test had not been met.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
The what sorry, had not been met?

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Sorry? The statutory test all right? Or discharge without conviction
and not been met. I know that's a bit of
a legally. Basically, the law requires that caught, the consequences
of a conviction needs to be out of all proportioned
at the gravity or seriousness of this bench if you're
not going to have a conviction. So the Crown had
argued on Monday that that wasn't the case. This was
a serious repeat offending involving significant breach of trust in

(01:00):
her position of power. And then the defense argued unsuccessfully,
of course, that the setbacks that would come with the
conviction would be out of all proportion to her defending,
especially when you take into account the mental health aspects
of the case.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
What does this mean for Goldris Garriman's legal career? Can
she practice law when she has a conviction.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Like this, Well, that's really to be determined. Nothing is
stopping her from applying for a law license again. Her
lawyer did argue quite insistently that a conviction does present
a significant hurdle to convincing the law society that she's
fit to practice, But the Crown noted that a conviction

(01:37):
doesn't necessarily mean she's automatically barred. The law society would
have to look at the whole picture like the judge should.
The concept. Basically, if she is barred, it'll be because
of her own offending, not because of any decision that
judge made in court today.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Does this preventive from going anywhere in the world? She
can try level freely or not.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yes, she can move the country, although some nations like
a Canada and the United States do make it more
difficult for those with convictions to enter. She'll likely have
to fill out more forms, face more scrutiny than the
average traveler. So I wouldn't say she can travel freely,
but it's not an end to traveling.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah, And it means now we know that she's done
this interview with John Campbell, and she's issued a statement
to another media outlet, but she otherwise has been stune
right left. Court said nothing, Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
She did immediate asked for an affidavit that she had
submitted to the court, and she didn't put up an
opposition to that. So at some point we may get
a little bit more from her own words. But of
course that's a lot different than a media scrum where
you're taking questions.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah too, right, Hey, Craig, listen, Thank you very much,
really appreciated. This is Craig cap Ten, the Hero's reporter
who was in court for us. For more from Hither Dupless,
see Ellen Drive. Listen live to News Talks It from
four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.