Melbourne: An Australian court hearing the trial of Indian-origin surgeon Jayant Patel today pulled up a prominent TV channel for airing an “irresponsible” programme amid concern that it could affect a fair trial.
The trial at the Brisbane District Court was delayed by an hour as lawyers for the prosecution and defence told the judge of a programme about alleged problems with doctors that aired last night on Channel 7 current affairs programme ‘Today Tonight'.
The judge presiding over Patel's trial Justice Terry Martin told jurors they must not seek out the report, saying he feared it could affect a fair trial.
They must only consider evidence that is raised in court, The Australian quoted him as saying.
“The lead into the story was referring to Dr Patel's trial starting yesterday and then goes onto discuss problems with doctors in a very aggressive way,” the judge said.
“Its content, in my view, was totally irresponsible in view of the fact that this trial was getting underway today,” he said.
He warned jurors to ignore such reporting or risk a “grave injustice”, the report said.
Jury selection took all day, to combat previous “extraordinary publicity” about the case and Martin urged the 14-person jury to put all reporting out of their mind, it said.
Patel is facing a charge of causing potentially life-threatening bodily harm to a patient during a surgery in Australia in 2004.
