Jury trials have come to an immediate and abrupt halt at the Manukau District Court this week as the number of staff either with Covid-19 or forced to isolate doubles. 

In an email to contacts last night, the court's service manager said the criminal registry at Manukau "has taken quite the hit" with the number of staff isolating doubling in the past week. 

"While we have a few staff working from home, a number of them do not have the technology to be able to do the same." 

As a result, the court will now halt the start of any new jury trials for the remainder of the week. 

"We have had to assess our ability to continue to support the number of scheduled courts. 

"As a result, no new jury trials will be starting for the remainder of this week. The registry will have been in contact with the relevant parties to advise." 

It comes after the Herald reported today the number of court adjournments over the past six months has now spiked at more than 80,000. 

The Ministry of Justice confirmed 82,670 court events were adjourned or rescheduled in the country's district courts due to Covid-19 restrictions. That includes 630 jury trials, between August 18, 2021, and February 13, 2022. 

The figure has nearly doubled since between mid-October and February, when more than 44,000 High and District Court proceedings had been adjourned. 

A ministry spokesperson said that figure did include adjournments of the same cases and covered all jurisdictions - including criminal, family and civil - along with the Disputes Tribunal. 

The ongoing delays are having a real impact on everyone involved - especially the victims - and Criminal Bar Association president Fiona Guy Kidd QC predicted it would take years to clear the case backlog. 

In Manukau, the court manager said they have had "a couple of positive cases 'pop up' in the last couple of days and individuals that have been directly affected, have been contacted". 

"I would like to assure you that your health and safety is our top priority and, cleaning measures continue to be carried out to provide peace of mind and to ensure the safety of everyone in the building." 

Due to spread of Covid, the court had now assigned individual court rooms their own QR code to help people keep track of their movements. 

"In an attempt to manage and isolate areas where staff or court users later return a positive test result, court rooms have been assigned individual QR codes. 

"Posters will be in place over the next day or so and all court users are encouraged to scan in with the Covid Tracer app when moving around the different areas of the court building." 

The Ministry of Justice has been contacted for comment. 

'Lawyers are beginning to burn out' 

With Omicron cases spiking Guy Kidd, from the Criminal Bar Association, said she wanted to see RAT testing being "undertaken daily by all jury trial participants including judges, court staff, jurors and lawyers to ensure safety". 

"It may be that in some locations at some stages over the next month or two we may need to pause the operation of jury trials for a time." 

She added that criminal lawyers "dug deep to address jury trial backlogs after the first lockdown in 2020, however, some are now burning out". 

"The numbers of lawyers doing legal aid are reducing as it is uneconomical and anxiety due to the risk of contracting Covid-19 is present. 

"So as we push on to clear backlogs we need to be mindful of the health and welfare of all involved and on whom the criminal justice system depends to operate." 

She hoped an increase in legal aid rates would be addressed in the Government's budget, as they had not been raised since 2009. 

"If not an ever-dwindling number of lawyers will be left to carry an even heavier workload to address the backlog in courts."