Geraldton mayor Shane Van Styn to face trial later this month

The trial of Geraldton Mayor Shane Van Styn is set to begin at the end of the month, despite some last-minute adjustments made in court yesterday. A court hearing was scheduled by the prosecution to file an application for several witnesses to appear via video link for the trial. Mr Van Styn’s lawyer, George Giudice, strongly objected to this application with regards to two witnesses — the complainant, and a woman who was at the Kalbarri Motor Hotel on April 6, 2019, when Mr Van Styn allegedly assaulted an unruly patron. “There is no indication in the application of where these witnesses are and why they can’t attend court in Geraldton and give evidence,” Mr Giudice said. “It’s not in the interest of justice for these people to not be here and give evidence.” He said if the two witnesses were to appear via video link, the ability of the trier to evaluate the credibility of the witnesses would be affected “Credibility is an issue here,” he said. “Just because it’s common (using a video link) doesn’t make it right.” Prosecutor Simon Freitag agreed with Mr Giudice the application should have had details as to why the two witnesses could not appear and where they were. “I understand the complainant is working up north,” he said. “If the application doesn’t include those details, I’ll need to update those because it should have been included.” The matter was adjourned until Monday, when Magistrate Chris Miocevich will decide if these witnesses need to appear in person. Mr Freitag indicated to the court the prosecution would use the testimony of a forensic expert, Julie Murakami; DNA evidence; and CCTV footage of the incident during the trial. A second witness who was in the hotel would not be giving evidence as they had lost contact with her. Mr Van Styn’s trial on charges of assault occasioning bodily harm is set to begin on September 29.