3 days ago
Court to correct guilty finding error in blackmail case against former MP and husband
South Australia's District Court has apologised for an error that mistakenly recorded a guilty finding of blackmail against former Labor MP Annabel Digance and her husband.
The pair was previously charged with blackmailing Premier Peter Malinauskas after they allegedly threatened to make accusations of misconduct against him in 2020.
However, those charges were withdrawn in April 2023, upon them entering an order to stay away from Mr Malinauskas.
Earlier this year, Ms Digance filed a $2.3 million civil lawsuit against Mr Malinauskas claiming he spearheaded a malicious prosecution "motivated by [the premier's] own personal and political advantage".
At the first hearing for the lawsuit in South Australia's Supreme Court last month, the Premier's lawyer Michael Abbott KC told the court that according to District Court documents the Digances had been found guilty of blackmail before the charges were withdrawn.
However, an email — obtained by the ABC — sent by Chief Judge Michale Evans's acting judicial assistant on Friday afternoon, stated that no guilty finding was ever recorded.
"There were no orders made which involved a finding of guilt against either of the defendants," the acting judicial assistant wrote.
"It has come to the attention of the Chief Judge that a part of the court record in this matter is incorrect and needs to be corrected."
The email — which was sent to SA Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Martin Hinton KC, as well as his department and lawyers representing Mr Malinauskas and the Digances — said the open court hearing would be held to hear the parties before the court record was corrected.
In court on Tuesday, Chief Judge Evans apologised to the court for any inconvenience and said "steps will be taken" to correct the record.
The Chief Judge, who referred to the transcript from the open court hearing in April 2023, confirmed no guilty finding had ever been recorded against the Digances, and instead said there had been an error.
He explained that Judge Paul Muscat acted as a Magistrate and imposed the order under those powers, before Mr Hinton withdrew the blackmail charges.
Barrister Geoffrey Watson SC, who is acting for Ms Digance in the civil proceedings, thanked the court for correcting the error so promptly.
"I'd like to thank Your Honour, on behalf of Mrs Digance, for giving this opportunity to have this corrected. Thank you very much — that's sincere," he said.
In a statement, the Court Administration Authority (CAA) said it would review "all court matters with orders made in the same circumstances to ensure that court records are accurate".
"The CAA will also commission an external assurance review into this matter," the statement said.
Ms Digance's civil proceedings against Mr Malinauskas and the state of South Australia return to the Supreme Court next month.
