Chris Cairns has made another appearance in court. It was only a routine case management hearing. Cairns and his co-defendant, the barrister Andrew Fitch-Holland pleaded not guilty once again and it seems that the trial will proceed in October of this year.
The case is reported on a number of websites including this Australian paper. One mistake a lot of the media are making is to assume that Fitch-Holland was Cairns' barrister during the 2012 libel trial, on which the criminal case is based. Fitch-Holland is a friend of Cairns, and gave him some assistance in the trial. He did not, however, represent Cairns, in part because he is not a libel specialist. He is a co-defendant because (as I understand it) it is alleged he improperly pressured a witness to sign a false statement for Cairns.
It is important to reiterate that both defendants pleaded not guilty. I shall keep an eye on the case as it progresses, and depending on other commitments, will attend as a journalist/observer in October when the trial takes place.
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