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Story: Law

Lawyers at the High Court

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Lawyers at the High Court

This scene inside the High Court, Wellington, shows defence counsel Mike Hardy-Jones conferring with prosecution lawyers Joanna Maze, Warwick Gendall and Mathew Downs. All criminal cases involve a legal contest between the defendant, usually represented by a lawyer, and the prosecution. This case was the 1996 trial of Stuart Murray Wilson, the so-called 'Beast of Blenheim', who was found guilty of 22 charges of rape, bestiality and child abuse.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP/1996/0586

by Melanie Burford

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Geoffrey Palmer, Law – Criminal and civil law, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/36996/lawyers-at-the-high-court (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Geoffrey Palmer, published 12 June 2012, updated 1 October 2016.