WOW, just when I thought the UK's problems couldn't be any worse. Turns out they have a convicted criminal, who was convicted while serving as an MP, found guilty of perverting the court of justice, who served a custodial sentence and was wearing an angle tag in the Hose of Commons, casting the deciding vote to legally prevent no deal back on Wednesday 3 April. There is a convicted criminal in the House of Commons!
Now let's compare this to a similar case in Australia. Marcus Einfeld was a federal court Judge in Australia. In Jan 2006 he was given a $77 fine for speeding (60kpmh in a 50kpmh zone, about 6mph over the speed limit). He appealed the ticket, and on 7 August 2006 before the court swore an affidavit that a female friend from the United States had been driving at the time. No further action was taken, the charge was not proved. However, Viva Goldner a junior reporter for The Daily Telegraph, had observed the court proceedings that day. Judge Einfeld had claimed, under oath, that Australian-born academic Teresa Brennan had been driving at the time and had since passed away, and on her return to the office Ms Goldner checked for her obituary. She found that Professor Brennan had died 3 years earlier in February 2003 from injuries she sustained in a hit-and-run incident on 12 December 2002. When challenged with this evidence, Judge Einfeld claimed that he had another friend of the same name from the US who had also died from a car accident but in 2006.
![[Image: 70oUk5f.png]](https://i.imgur.com/70oUk5f.png)
Einfeld v R [2010] NSWCCA 87, Court of Criminal Appeal (NSW).
His attempt at cover-up went further. On 10 August 2006 (3 days after his appearance in court contesting the speeding charge) police opened an investigation. Judge Einfeld fabricated a 20 page statement describing the fictitious second Teresa Brennan, and presented that to police on 24 August 2006. He was arrested in March 2007, and on 31 October 2008 after several charges were dropped, he pleaded guilty to two charges: perjury and perverting the course of justice. He was sentenced on 20 March 2009 to three years gaol with a non-parole period of 2 years, and he was released on parole on 19 March 2011 after serving the 2 years.
It was subsequently proven that Judge Einfeld had on three other occasions in 1999, 2002, and 2004 claimed that dead friends from the US had been driving to avoid speeding fines.
But two years in gaol was not the end of his punishment. His commission as a Queen's Counsel was revoked. The Council of NSW Bar Association had him removed from the roll (i.e. he was disbarred). His membership of the Order of Australia was rescinded. And his Australian Sports Medal was revoked.
Now the judiciary and legislature are separate, that's true, but I strongly feel that both equally important and that a crime similar to this committed by someone serving in the legislature is just as serious. I would expect the same outcome for an MP who committed perjury and perverted the cause of justice. I accept that Fiona Onasanya's case is different because it doesn't involve perjury, however she was found guilty of perverting the cause of justice, and she is a lawyer so she definitely knew the severity of her criminality. Ignoring the fact that she's a lawyer, I would expect for an MP convicted on a charge of perverting the cause of justice to be at minimum expelled from parliament and made ineligible for the by-election. For the record, that would have been the case in Australia, you can see the rules here. The applicable rule is this:
A person is incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a Member of the House of Representatives if the person: has been convicted and is under sentence or subject to be sentenced for an offence punishable by imprisonment for one year or longer under a State or Commonwealth law;
What it means is that upon her conviction on 18 Dec 2018 (and prior to sentencing), she would have been incapable to sit in parliament, which would automatically trigger a by-election. Yes I know her actual sentence was a lot shorter than 12 months (it was 3 months), however the rule is if the crime is punishable by 12 months or longer, which it was. She would have to have been sentenced the same day in order to avoid this in Australia and she wasn't, she was sentenced at the end of Jan 2019.
Now let's compare this to a similar case in Australia. Marcus Einfeld was a federal court Judge in Australia. In Jan 2006 he was given a $77 fine for speeding (60kpmh in a 50kpmh zone, about 6mph over the speed limit). He appealed the ticket, and on 7 August 2006 before the court swore an affidavit that a female friend from the United States had been driving at the time. No further action was taken, the charge was not proved. However, Viva Goldner a junior reporter for The Daily Telegraph, had observed the court proceedings that day. Judge Einfeld had claimed, under oath, that Australian-born academic Teresa Brennan had been driving at the time and had since passed away, and on her return to the office Ms Goldner checked for her obituary. She found that Professor Brennan had died 3 years earlier in February 2003 from injuries she sustained in a hit-and-run incident on 12 December 2002. When challenged with this evidence, Judge Einfeld claimed that he had another friend of the same name from the US who had also died from a car accident but in 2006.
Einfeld v R [2010] NSWCCA 87, Court of Criminal Appeal (NSW).
His attempt at cover-up went further. On 10 August 2006 (3 days after his appearance in court contesting the speeding charge) police opened an investigation. Judge Einfeld fabricated a 20 page statement describing the fictitious second Teresa Brennan, and presented that to police on 24 August 2006. He was arrested in March 2007, and on 31 October 2008 after several charges were dropped, he pleaded guilty to two charges: perjury and perverting the course of justice. He was sentenced on 20 March 2009 to three years gaol with a non-parole period of 2 years, and he was released on parole on 19 March 2011 after serving the 2 years.
It was subsequently proven that Judge Einfeld had on three other occasions in 1999, 2002, and 2004 claimed that dead friends from the US had been driving to avoid speeding fines.
But two years in gaol was not the end of his punishment. His commission as a Queen's Counsel was revoked. The Council of NSW Bar Association had him removed from the roll (i.e. he was disbarred). His membership of the Order of Australia was rescinded. And his Australian Sports Medal was revoked.
Now the judiciary and legislature are separate, that's true, but I strongly feel that both equally important and that a crime similar to this committed by someone serving in the legislature is just as serious. I would expect the same outcome for an MP who committed perjury and perverted the cause of justice. I accept that Fiona Onasanya's case is different because it doesn't involve perjury, however she was found guilty of perverting the cause of justice, and she is a lawyer so she definitely knew the severity of her criminality. Ignoring the fact that she's a lawyer, I would expect for an MP convicted on a charge of perverting the cause of justice to be at minimum expelled from parliament and made ineligible for the by-election. For the record, that would have been the case in Australia, you can see the rules here. The applicable rule is this:
A person is incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a Member of the House of Representatives if the person: has been convicted and is under sentence or subject to be sentenced for an offence punishable by imprisonment for one year or longer under a State or Commonwealth law;
What it means is that upon her conviction on 18 Dec 2018 (and prior to sentencing), she would have been incapable to sit in parliament, which would automatically trigger a by-election. Yes I know her actual sentence was a lot shorter than 12 months (it was 3 months), however the rule is if the crime is punishable by 12 months or longer, which it was. She would have to have been sentenced the same day in order to avoid this in Australia and she wasn't, she was sentenced at the end of Jan 2019.
