A decision to abandon plans to extend a courtroom in the Dunedin Courthouse means jury trials will continue to be held in Invercargill until earthquake strengthening on the building's tower is completed.
This comes after parts of the Dunedin Courthouse in Lower Stuart St were closed last December after it was found the tower could collapse in a significant earthquake.
At the time, the ministry said most of the main historic part of the Dunedin Courthouse, including the two jury trial rooms and the judicial chambers, would remain closed while strengthening work, with a total cost of up to $3 million, was completed.
As a temporary measure, the Ministry of Justice had planned to extend courtroom 3 so jury trials could be held in Dunedin, but the plan was abandoned after the judiciary expressed concerns to the ministry that the courtroom would be too small to satisfactorily hold jury trials, Ministry of Justice acting deputy secretary of courts Robert Pigou said.
This meant jury trials would continue to be held in Invercargill.
No jury weeks would be lost at either court as a result of the arrangement, Mr Pigou said.
General manager of district courts Tony Fisher said, even with the extension, the room was considered to be too small and the design of the room meant the judge and jury would not have a clear line of sight to the accused.
The timeframe for strengthening work had not been finalised but the ministry had indicated a likely reopening date of early next year.
There would be "additional costs" involved in transferring jury trials to Invercargill, but the ministry was not able provide figures "at the moment", he said.
Work to shift the Family Court to John Wickliffe House was proceeding and cases would be heard there from May 14, freeing up two additional courtrooms for scheduling hearings, Mr Pigou said.
The ministry was also working on providing more waiting space, interview rooms and toilets on the ground floor of the Dunedin Courthouse.
Law Society Otago branch president Debbie Ericsson said it supported the decision not to extend courtroom 3, calling it the "lesser of two evils".
The courtroom was "way too small" for jury trials, she said.
"With the amount of desks and witness boxes and jury boxes that you need to get in there, it [would be] so crammed that the jury would be overlooking counsel tables so they could read all their notes."
