Table Talk: Mangos To Be Witness In Einfeld Case
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday August 16, 2007
TELEVISION personality John Mangos has emerged as a key witness in the high-profile speeding case case involving former Federal Court judge Marcus Einfeld, QC.
According to documents presented in the 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 dining 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 Director of Public Prosecutions, handed to the magistrate Hugh Dillon an agreed list of witnesses who will give evidence at Einfeld's committal hearing on December 10. Also on the witness list is Pilu's manager, Grant Burtenshaw. According to documents, Mr Burtenshaw will give evidence relating to the movements of Einfeld, Ms Schenker and Mr 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 also 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 on August 7 last year 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 the evidence he gave under oath about the Mosman fine, Einfeld is facing 11 other charges including hindering a police investigation, perverting the course of justice and four charges relating to false statutory declarations that were allegedly submitted to avoid other traffic fines including one he received while a Federal Court judge.Angela Liati, 54, also 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 gavea statement to Einfeld's lawyers this year saying she was driving his car on January 8 with a Professor Brennan, having previously met the professor at a meditation session.
© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald
