By Adam Ray
Scott Guy's widow has told the Sensible Sentencing Trust she believes the man accused of killing her husband should have been forced to take the stand.
Trust spokesman Garth McVicar says Kylee Guy supports calls for a review of the law that allowed her brother-in-law Ewen Macdonald to stay silent during his trial.
The only evidence the jury heard from Ewen Macdonald was a replay of his police interview.
Like many defendants, he exercised the long-held right to silence. Because it is a right, Justice Simon France told the jury he couldn't be judged on it.
“That means you cannot give any significance at all to the fact that he did not testify,” says Justice France.
While Macdonald's silence may be supported by law, it's facing public opposition. The Sensible Sentencing Trust says courts are more interested in principle, rather than the truth.
“Our system is bogged down in the middle ages,” says Mr McVicar. “The justice system hasn't evolved to the point where it's about truth and justice.”
Mr McVicar says Kylee Guy wants the right to silence re-examined too. He says we should look at changes in English courts, where juries can draw inferences from a defendant's silence.
“We believe this case is the tipping point that's going to instigate change further on.”
One law expert says the Law Commission is already looking at clearer rules around this.
“So that it is transparent and clear to an accused person the risk they might run if they exercise the right to silence,” says Victoria University Law School associate professor Elisabeth Mcdonald.
The Prime Minister says the right to silence is a fundamental right that the Government is not interested in changing.
If he were, it would take serious political willpower because the right to silence is enshrined in the Bill of Rights and the Evidence Act.
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