File photo A Whangarei judge has indicated he will pave the way for a transgender woman who broke a bottle of champagne over a man’s head, to be able to apply for home detention, so she does not have to spend even more time in a male prison. The woman, Glen Cooper, has pleaded guilty to a charge of wounding with intent to injure at the Whangarei District Court. It happened when the pair got into an argument while drinking at a Whangarei home in January. The man received a laceration to the head and a deep cut in a leg, which required surgery. Judge Duncan Harvey has accepted there was some provocation, and Cooper’s lawyer Kelly Ellis says the man was trying to punch her client when she hit him with the bottle. Cooper is on remand in the men’s prison, Ngawha Prison, and has been for nine months. Cooper will be sentenced next month, and Judge Harvey has given a sentencing indication that he is prepared to offer a discount of 10 to 15 per cent due to her situation. Due to the time she has been on remand, the sentence should be for less than two years from the sentencing date, enabling her to apply for home detention. Ellis, who is also a transgender rights’ campaigner with the group TransAdvocates, says the discount for people in Cooper’s situation has been fixed at 10 to 15 per cent. “Although it has been followed in other cases, TransAdvocates had hoped that an increase would be given, particularly bearing in mind that this client would not be able to begin treatment while locked in prison,” Ellis says. “This, it was submitted, breached the Bill of Rights Act, amounting not only to discrimination for being transgender but could only be seen as cruel treatment. “Judge Harvey declined to expand his judgment into this area, stating Miss Cooper could have done more when she was out of prison.” Ellis says she also told the court transgender people are more likely to come before them because of discrimination-caused poor circumstances. “The recent events in South Auckland were used to demonstrate how the community discriminates against the young and needy. Although this may well have been factored into the decision, no mention was made of it as the judge gave what can only be a favourable ruling for the client who had struck a man over the head with a bottle causing extensive injuries.” Ellis says this area of law has not been argued with vigour in any court in New Zealand, saying precedent Queen and Warwick covers it in about three paragraphs. “Here we got the chance to present what were described as ‘very extensive submissions’ which ranged over various reports from the Human Rights Commission, Ombudsman's Office, Counties Manukau District Health Board, the Bill of Rights, Human Rights and Sentencing Acts and Corrections Regulations and policy. “So while the law might have moved in the smallest increment, it worked out for the client and the eyebrows of Crown counsel and the judge both went up when they realised how much the law contradicted their own acceptance of diversity,” Ellis says. The Government has made it clear it has no intention of changing the Corrections Department policy to house transgender prisoners based on their sex at birth, unless they have had full gender reassignment surgery. Corrections Minister Anne Tolley told Parliament on February that she believes “a man who is transgender, but pre-surgery, is still a man”. She also denied transgender inmates are vulnerable to sexual abuse and sexual assault in prison.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 10th October 2012 - 2:51pm