There’s a case running here at the moment involving former Federal Court judge Marcus Einfeld - who has admitted to perjury over a $77 traffic fine. This bloke used to be one of the country’s top judges.
He’s been sitting in the dock because he tried to get off the speeding fine by saying a female friend of his was driving the car. Trouble was, at the time she was dead. Yes indeed.
Ian Barker, QC, for Einfeld, told Justice Bruce James that, "in the scale of things", the offences were trivial, but the consequences for his client were "catastrophic".
The court also heard today that Einfeld was still receiving a pension of more than $200,000 a year for being a former judge, and that Einfeld had sent people to prison for perjury.
Mr Barker said the defence accepted that the crimes of perjury and perversion of the course of justice usually attracted a full-time custodial sentence.
But "there had to be flexibility" in deciding whether a person in Einfeld's position should go to jail, he said. Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he.
Yesterday the defence said Einfeld would be very depressed if he had to go to prison and his depression would be likely to get worse.
Really. Are there people who go to prison and like it? I mean, come on! Of course it’s bloody depressing – it’s bloody prison!
We’ll see, but my money’s on a suspended sentence.