Newsreader A Witness Against Einfeld
The Age
Thursday August 16, 2007
TELEVISION news reader John Mangos has emerged as a key witness in the high-profile case involving former Federal Court judge Marcus Einfeld, QC.
According to documents presented in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court yesterday, the Sky News presenter will give evidence that on January 8 last year he was dining with his family at Pilu Restaurant in Freshwater when he saw Einfeld with Vivian Schenker, a former SBS presenter and adviser to Mark Latham. Einfeld, who faces 14 charges, including three of perjury, has previously given evidence under oath that he was not driving his Lexus when it was photographed speeding in Mosman at 4.01pm on January 8, as he was in Forster. Yesterday, Wayne Roser, from the office of the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions, handed to Magistrate Hugh Dillon an agreed list of witnesses for Einfeld's committal hearing on December 10. Also on the list is Pilu's manager, Grant Burtenshaw. Mr Burtenshaw will give evidence relating to the movements of Einfeld, Ms Schenker and Mangos on January 8. He will also produce restaurant records. The DPP also plans to call Ms Schenker, who will be asked about her recollections of events on January 8 as well as her "dealings with the police resulting from an ERISP (electronic record of interview with suspected person) interview". Evidence will be called about security camera footage taken from the block of flats where Einfeld's mother lives. Also on the witness list is an expert on "locational records" taken from mobile phone towers. Einfeld, 67, had a $77 speeding fine dismissed in Downing Centre Local Court a year ago after presenting a statutory declaration claiming he had lent his car to an old friend, Professor Teresa Brennan, and that she had been driving. It was subsequently revealed that the US academic had died in a car crash three years earlier. As well as the three counts of perjury relating to his evidence about the Mosman fine, Einfeld faces 11 other charges, including hindering a police investigation, perverting the course of justice and four charges relating to false statutory declarations allegedly submitted to avoid other traffic fines, including one he received while a Federal Court judge. Angela Liati, 54, faces a committal hearing at the same time as Einfeld. Liati was charged with perverting the course of justice and hindering an investigation after she gave a statement to Einfeld's lawyers this year saying she was driving his car on January 8 with a Professor Brennan.
© 2007 The Age
