Can anyone give any sort of guesstimate on the potential court proceedings?
Regardless of how things play out this will be our biggest problem. If Manase is innocent could this whole thing drag out in the same way as DeBellin's and essentially rule him out for over a season. Also if the club holds the belief that he is innocent until proven otherwise (as they must) then how can they possibly sign another 9 who is good enough to start and is willing to sign on a temporary basis?
As sad as it is I think we are stuck with Cust, Croker or Docker Clay (or whoever the club had planned to sign as a bench 9).
Hi MuzztheEagle, hope you are well. It is very difficult to give a clear cut answer because it totally depends on what legal representative you engage, court schedules, and what sort of case the prosecution has against Manise. The scenarios are several.
If the case was to run without any variables after Manise receives the brief of evidence there would be a committal hearing, this can take anywhere from 3 - 9 months generally, after the brief is received. Depending on your counsel they may be able to expedite the time frame (silks and QC's are good at doing this). At the committal, if it is found that the prosecution do not have enough evidence to secure a conviction the matter can be thrown out of court and life goes on generally speaking (apart from maybe suing the state for malicious prosecution, if the individual wishes to go down that path).
However, there is nothing stopping counsel in submitting a writ into the Supreme Court for unlawful detention of Manise, especially if, like he states, there is cause for mistaken identity. This will generally bring the incarcerated individual before the courts and out of gaol. This has the potential to speed up the process immensely
I am still a little confused on the grounds the Magistrate gave to refuse bail to Manese, which I have no doubt should be challenged. Refusing bail because there is a suspicion (yes suspicion) that an individual may be part of, or deal with, an islander criminal gang is a bit rich in my humble opinion. He could be suspected of being part of a satanic group, but unless they have convictions as evidence, then, there may be strong grounds to overturn the refusal of bail by the Magistrate.
