A Mosgiel man has escaped prosecution for alleged obstruction of a fire officer 12 months ago because police took too long to file the correct charge.
Dean Cottle, a 49-year-old car salesman, was charged with knowingly obstructing a senior Fire Service station officer "in the attempted performance of a duty imposed on him'' by a section of the Fire Services Act. But it was the incorrect section.
The officer had gone to Cottle's property where a car was seen to be on fire on July 31, 2015. An argument developed about whether he needed to come inside the house and Cottle was subsequently charged.
He denied the charge which was to go to a defended hearing in the Dunedin District Court yesterday. But when the case was called, counsel Len Andersen said the police wanted to replace the original charge with one under a different section of the Fire Services Act. The defence objected to that.
Mr Andersen said it was too late, that the time allowed to bring a new charge had run out.
Prosecutor Sergeant Adrian Cheyne then applied to amend the wording of the existing charge to cover the factual situation and bring it within the correct section of the Act.
Mr Andersen also objected to that.
Amending the charge would effectively make it a new charge and the time limit for bringing a new charge had expired.
Judge Kevin Phillips agreed. In real terms he could not allow the amendment because it was outside the time limitation. Allowing the charge to be amended would allow police to circumvent the time limit.
"I don't consider they should be able to have another go at this late stage,'' he said.
There was no option then but for police to withdraw the existing charge.
