A mistrial was declared for an Oamaru man who had denied in the Oamaru District Court yesterday three charges of burglary and two of theft.
The defended hearing for Corey Reopo Douglas (25), of Oamaru, came to a sudden halt during evidence being given for the prosecution by a woman, Judge Joanna Maze clearing the court for in-chambers consideration of issues raised by the defendant's counsel, Michael de Buyzer.
After hearing explanations and arguments in chambers, Judge Maze declared a mistrial then remanded Douglas to appear again on March 10 for a new defended hearing.
The burglaries and thefts were alleged to have occurred in November last year in Hampden and other areas around North Otago.
Police prosecutor Senior Sergeant Chris George amended some of the charges at the start of the hearing, including clarifying where the offences were alleged to have taken place.
His first witness was Carla-Jane Cleverley (27), an Oamaru cafe assistant who started to give her evidence about what happened on November 29 and 30, some of which involved Douglas.
Partway through that, when she was getting into more detail, Mr de Buyzer said he had ''a difficulty with the way the evidence is unfolding''.
Some of the evidence, particularly the detail, was not in the evidence provided to him through disclosure (a requirement that the prosecution provide all evidence and any other details requested by the defence which pertains to a case against a client).
Some of that cut across details of an alibi, supported by two witnesses, for Douglas which had been provided to police earlier this year.
It was ''all new material'' and Mr de Buyzer suspected the witness had been reinterviewed after disclosure.
Snr Sgt George said there had been a brief discussion recently with the witness, and at that stage Judge Maze called a halt to the hearing and moved it in chambers.
