A woman accused of leaving threatening voice messages to a court witness has had her application for "a drastic remedy tantamount to continuing immunity from prosecution" dismissed after arguing for it based on her health being in a "precarious state".
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Dianne Frances Boland, 72, has been charged with three counts each of threatening a witness and using a carriage service to harass.
The former counts are likely to be discontinued at a future date, the ACT Magistrates Court heard on Wednesday when the matter came before it for a permanent stay application.
The court heard Boland allegedly left three voice messages on another woman's home phone in March 2019.
At the time, Boland was the complainant in a Supreme Court trial and the other woman was a witness in the case.
The latter alleges that it was Boland's voice and reported it to police.
Since the case first came to court in November 2019, Boland has supplied medical certificates indicating she has been unfit to attend.
The court heard her health was "in a precarious state" because she suffers from a complex interplay of various conditions that have made her life expectancy dire.
These include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, chronic heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and osteoarthritis.
She also suffers from depression, anxiety and cognitive impairment.
Boland, through her lawyers, argued that to continue the proceedings would be unjustifiably oppressive and would bring the administration of justice into disrepute, amounting to an abuse of process.
Medical records show she had been admitted to hospital more frequently and for longer periods in the past few years, including 12 times in the 18 months to June 2021.
A report author found that the "overall health status of Ms Boland does not look good".
The report concluded that it was uncertain if the defendant may be able to attend court because of her shortness in breath and the possibility of her health issues and the court case worsening her mental health.
Another report said Boland's anxiety disorder involved agoraphobia, a fear of leaving familiar places.
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The prosecution argued that an abuse of process has not been identified and there is a clear public interest in determining the charges to finality.
It also argued that alternative arrangements could be made to ensure Boland's participation in the legal proceedings.
These were the use of an audio-visual link and other resources - including having breaks, shorter court sitting time, and care workers - to accommodate Boland.
The prosecution also raised the prospect of the defendant participating in an intermediary program to help her during proceedings.
Magistrate Louise Taylor dismissed Boland's intervention to stop the prosecution.
Ms Taylor said that while she accepted all of Boland's health issues, she was not satisfied that Boland cannot "meaningfully or properly participate" in the court hearing via audio-visual link with some of the accommodation as proposed by the prosecution.
"The use of an AVL and other measures have not been ruled out as capable of meeting the challenges of those difficulties," she said.
Ms Taylor said she also considered the interests of justice, including the public interest in the court exercising its jurisdiction in criminal matters, and "on the face of it, the relatively strong prosecution case".
In her decision, Ms Taylor cited the High Court that described the granting of a permanent stay "as a drastic remedy tantamount to continuing immunity from prosecution".
"It should only be granted in extreme or exceptional circumstances," she said.
The case, which had been set for a September hearing, is scheduled for return on August 10.
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