High-profile Hong-Kong based barrister and philanthropist Gerard McCoy QC, of Christchurch, has been appointed to lead the South Westland greenstone appeals, Saxton Appeal Trust chairman Mike Hill said yesterday.
Prof McCoy had agreed to take over the cases of Haast helicopter pilots Dave Saxton (62) and Morgan Saxton (30) on Wednesday, Mr Hill said.
The Saxtons are appealing their convictions and jail sentences for stealing greenstone between October 1997 and September 2003. They have applied to the Court of Appeal for bail and will also be fighting an application by the Crown for the forfeiture of Dave Saxton's Haast farm.
The Saxtons have been in Paparoa Prison since February 15. Dave Saxton is serving a two-year-nine-month sentence, his son Morgan is serving two years six months and they have also been ordered to pay $300,000 reparation to Ngai Tahu, the owner of the greenstone.
Prof McCoy is a professor of law at City University Hong Kong and an adjunct professor of law at the University of Canterbury, according to Canterbury's school of law website.
His interests are public law, evidence, criminal law, extradition, disciplinary tribunals and equity.
Prof McCoy is on retainer to the Hong Kong Government to act for it in its constitutional law litigation and was the chief prosecutor in George Speight's treason case in the High Court of Fiji. He is a graduate of both Victoria and Canterbury universities, the author of several publications, and was appointed a deputy judge of the High Court in Hong Kong in 2001.
Mr Hill said Prof McCoy had been jointly appointed by the trust and the Saxton family.
Previously, Dunedin lawyer Colin Withnall QC had been instructed to lead the Saxtons' defence of the greenstone theft charges.
The trust has raised $140,000 of its $220,000 goal towards legal fees since it was formed one month ago and plans to hold a fund-raising function in Wanaka on April 12.
An aerial protest organised by the trust over Paparoa Prison and Christchurch yesterday was supported by six helicopters and a fixed wing aircraft towing a banner reading ‘‘Free the Saxtons''.
Mr Hill said the hour-long protest went ‘‘very well'' and had attracted the desired public attention.
Prison inmates waved at the aircraft as they flew over Paparoa but the aircraft were restricted in their movements because the facility is in a controlled airspace close to Christchurch airport.
Dave Saxton's daughter, Lisa Zwarst, said yesterday the family was concerned at the severity of the sentences and ‘‘grossly exaggerated'' figures used to determine the amount of greenstone taken.
The Crown passed legislation in 1997 to vest ownership of greenstone in the South Island Maori tribe Ngai Tahu.
