An Auckland man blackmailed his lawyer by demanding $350,000 for keeping quiet about allegations he was in a relationship with a prostitute and used methamphetamine, a court has been told.
Paul Desmond Currie (45) went on trial at the High Court in Auckland today, facing one charge of blackmail after he allegedly threatened to expose his lawyer when he lost $200,000 in a divorce settlement.
Currie is accused of threatening to disclose information about the lawyer in October and November 2006, including that he was in a relationship with a prostitute and took the class A drug methamphetamine, known as P.
The Auckland lawyer's identity is suppressed.
Crown prosecutor Nick Flanagan told the jury the lawyer acted for Currie during his marriage break-up.
Currie was not happy with the settlement, and wrote a letter to his lawyer to air his grievances and made allegations that his lawyer used drugs and prostitutes, and he threatened to tell the Law Society and others about this if he was not given $351,886 in compensation.
Currie's partner at the time was a prostitute, and his lawyer had used her services many years earlier, the court was told.
Richard Earwaker, defending Currie, said his client denied the charge.
"He accepts he was trying to achieve a final settlement for his lawyer's perceived negligence and misconduct after representing him for a number of years," Mr Earwaker said.
Giving evidence to the jury today, the lawyer said he met Currie's partner 17 years ago in a Takapuna bar in the early 1990s.
The relationship ended when she moved in with Currie in 2000, he said.
The lawyer said she rang his office in early 2004 to tell him about Currie's dispute with his former wife, and he agreed to act on Currie's behalf.
He said his relationship with Currie became acrimonious after the divorce settlement because Currie maintained he had not handled the case properly.
"I thought I had conducted the case correctly and it had been done reasonably.
"He wanted me to file an appeal. It went from bad to worse, because he would not accept there were no valid grounds to consider an appeal, and he became increasingly argumentative," the lawyer said.
Currie said he was "going to get him", and in September 2006 the lawyer filed a notice in court and withdrew from representing Currie.
Currie then enlisted the help of John Kenneth Pippos, who runs an advocacy service.
Mr Pippos showed the lawyer a letter which contained allegations of serious criminal and professional misconduct about the barrister, including that he had taken the class A drug methamphetamine.
He said the allegations were "absolute nonsense" and he contacted police.
He said there was "no way" he was paying $351,886 because it wasn't owing.
He agreed that he met Currie's partner at a gentleman's club.
"She was an escort and I saw her on that basis," the lawyer said.
The trial is expected to last until the end of the week.
