The Australian Legal system ensures to bring justice to all cases but, some don’t end up that way. An example of this is Mickelberg’s case. The Mickelberg’s case had many principles of justice that weren’t followed such as the Right to Remain Silent, Equal Treatment before the law, and Right to Appeal, however, they did get one right: Burden and Standard of proof. The Perth Mint Swindle is the name of the popular case, 3 men came in and gave a false cheque in return for 49 gold bars. They were never found but the Mickelberg brothers were falsely accused. Ray Mickelberg was beaten up when wearing nothing, their appeal was denied many times until they were finally heard, and they didn’t have a choice to remain silent.
The Mickelbergs case, most commonly known as the Perth Mint Swindle happened in 1982. Three couriers came into the Perth Mint with false cheques and tool 49 gold bars. They then transported the bars to a local company. They managed to get away with this plan because of the lack of security. It was a very weak security system and the couriers knew that. Then the Mickelbergs got involved with this. Since they already had a previous criminal record the police took advantage of this. The Sargent interviewing the brothers later got a promotion for “solving” this complex case. When the Sargent died, the detective came clean. He said that he was surprised about how much false evidence they could get away with. The police denied all accusations from the brothers that they were beaten up but, the detective confirmed that Ray was beaten up. Everything that the brothers had said was true. Their third brother died in a light aeroplane crash 6 months after being released from jail. The other two brothers received $500,000 but, they say it will never be enough for everything they have lost, their family, no job nor any education.
When Ray Mickelberg was taken into questioning, he wasn’t allowed to remain silent. If he wasn’t saying the truth, he was forced to sign a document of which he didn’t know the context. Even in court, the Mickelbergs brothers weren’t allowed to stay silent, they were manipulated into giving false evidence. Even to this day, the Mickelberg brothers claim that all the evidence was fabricated and they never agreed to any of it. He had no choice but to sign the document therefore not allowing the right to remain silent. And because the Mickelbergs were charged with a small theft, the all-white jury didn’t hesitate to believe what the police said.
The brothers didn’t have equal treatment before the law, they had no sense of safety as per the definition. Ray Mickelberg was taken into questioning and beaten up. Not only was he beaten, but it was also done when he wasn’t wearing anything. Ray Mickelberg claims that he was ill-treated up many times and the police watched on. In fact, the police were the ones that ordered the “beat session” on Mickelberg. This shows that Ray Mickelberg didn’t have a sense of safety, especially since the same police officer appeared in court. Upon hearing the news that their brother got beaten, the other Mickelberg brothers felt unsafe as the police could do the same thing to them at any time. Therefore, not giving equal treatment before the law because even though he is a criminal he still has to have the same right as the police.
The brothers were stripped from their right to appeal. Over 20 years, the brothers appealed eight times. All seven were ignored and passed on. Court didn’t even bother to look at the Mickelberg’s case and just passed it on. The longest jail sentence of the brothers was 16 years, so by the time the last brother got out of jail, their appeal still wasn’t recognised. This shows that they were denied the right to appeal. One or two times your appeal not being heard is understandable but 7? On their 8th appeals, they were finally heard, brought back to court. This is when the court, after at least 20 years, announced that the Mickelberg brothers were innocent and had nothing to do with the crime.
A principle of justice that was supported is that the precedent had the burden of proof, they had to prove the Mickelbergs wrong. The police provided all the “evidence” that was going against the brothers. The brothers didn’t have to prove themselves innocent rather, the precedent had to prove them guilty. This may be where the downfall of the case happened, as the Mickelbergs knew that the evidence was fabricated but, they couldn’t say anything. Overall, this principle of justice was supported.
In all, more principles weren’t supported to ones that were. Because of the complex situation innocent men were proven guilty. The lack of security, cameras, and actual evidence let the real criminals of this case walk away with 49 gold bars and someone else to take the fall. Justice hasn’t been upheld very well in this case, with the lying officer and detective, to the safety of the Mickelbergs being stripped from them, this case was nothing but unfair and they were taken advantage of the situation.
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