Samira Taghavi: Lawyers and judges bear the brunt of courtroom assaults

Open Justice reports 450 assaults have occurred in courtrooms since 2019 - many targeted towards counsel or other court personnel.

Most recently, two security guards were assaulted in Invercargill, leaving one with facial injuries. 

The Law Association's Samira Taghavi told Tim Beveridge slow processes and stressful proceedings leads to emotional outbursts. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks EDB. Follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Waking up at the beach, the badge or at home
having a staycation. Either way, stayed up to date. We're
Tim Bebridge on Summer Breakfast News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yes, seven past seven. Abuse in the courtrooms is getting worse.
Since twenty nineteen, there have been nearly four hundred and
fifty assaults, including verbal outbursts, intimidation and brawls. Now there's
calls for greater security in courthouses country wide. Law Association
of New Zealand council member Samir Tagarvey joins me.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Now, good morning, Good morning, Tim. Have you your year? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Is there a reason why the assaults are increasings, particularly
a lot worse than in past.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yes, Tim, there are. It's a combination of reasons, combination
of factors. People are generally angrier these days. They're struggling
with serious mental health challenges, and they are losing trust
and and the justice system. And adding to that since
twenty nineteen and the COVID lockdown, and of course people
losing their draws is also now we're dealing with the

(01:18):
cost of living, missing work for court, waiting all day
for a five minute hearing, bringing their kids along, while
worrying about paying bills. It's just all very, very overwhelming.
And bear in mind them that defense lawyers. As defense lawyers,
we often become the easiest target for that frustration. Everybody
sees us as the villains, blaming us for the delays

(01:38):
or the decision we don't even control. So those are
generally the reasons that we see the assaults going up,
which is really really frustrating.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
So it's the loss of trust related to the process
or to the outcomes and the court.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
I think it's mainly about the process at the moment,
because the process is taking so so long. For example,
someone who needs a brief hearing, even for example the
remands without flea or entering and not skuilty plea, which
is a two minutes in totally, we take two minutes
from the time the matter is called. But sometimes they
are coming at eight thirty in the morning and they're

(02:16):
waiting until four in the afternoon for that matter to
be called. This is why we've been pushing the Law Association,
Law Society and other organizations. We've been pushing so hard
for the Remote Participation Act to be amendous, and a
year later, after several consultations that hasn't happened yet. They
would seriously help everybody in the system.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Do you feel safe at work?

Speaker 3 (02:43):
The answer to that is difficult. Yes, generally I personally,
I personally do feel safe, but I am worried on
a daily basis. But I can't speak for all the
other lawyers. I don't imagine they're coming to court feeling
safe and I'm not worrying daily about not being assaulted
because the verbal abuse is very, very common. So putting

(03:03):
aside the physical abuse, the verbal abuse is very common
at lawyers, at court staff, at judge and that is
just not acceptable. But we just have to take it
with grace and basically just say will calm down, somebody
will come and help you.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Is a question of greater security or do we need
to be more innovative about speeding things up.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
It's a combination of fourth. For sure, we definitely need
more security personnel in court. It's just eleven for Auckland Court.
It's just not enough. And on top of that, we
do need to be more innovative. It's shocking to me
than in the twenty first century. Some basic measures are
still missing. For example, there are no cameras in the

(03:42):
court lifts. It's just unbelievable. Lifts are small, confined spaces.
We can see incidents happening there, people being assaulted. Also,
we do need more of those RS alarms that they
are using in Auckland Court and I think from day
but we do need the modern and reliable ones because

(04:03):
I have been told that in some courts that they
do have the DRS alarms. However, there's still rely on
the outdated ones. They don't track your location, which is
ridiculous because if you get one then they need to
be able to see where you are unless you tell
them in advance. I'm going to be for example, and
could from steven. If you move from seven to five,
they won't be able to locate you.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Gosh, sounds steam driven in some respects. Hey, thanks so
much for your time. That's samiir to Gavich from the
Law Association of New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
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