Partner Brian Swan comments in The Guardian on his client facing four years on remand without trial

Partner Brian Swan comments in relation to his client, Voja Petkovic, facing at least four years and three months on remand in jail without trial and despite not having been convicted of any of the charges brought against him.

Brian’s comments were published in The Guardian, 15 September 2022, and can be found here. 

Brian commented:

“He is not doing well mentally. His daughter was one month old when he was arrested and is now starting school.”

In relation to the delay in Mr Petkovic’s trial, Brian said:

“Every time I tried to get a trial date, I was told that people who were covered by the custody time limit were the priority. But if this case is not urgent now, I don’t know what is.”

“The prison staff would not attend if the temperature in the court went above 23 degrees. The prosecution actually asked for the case to be discharged because it was taking so long. The judge took two weeks to consider. He came back and said: ‘No, we will carry on.’ Then the next day he changed his mind and discharged the jury. It would have been discharged anyway because of the barrister’s strike.”

“People go to jail for long prison sentences but they have had their trial, their day in court. I have never heard of anything like this.”