Lack of funding threatens Gap trial

THE impending murder trial of Gordon Wood is in disarray due to the lack of funding for his legal team.

Wood's barrister, Winston Terracini, SC, is understood to be considering withdrawing from the matter after yesterday's decision by the Legal Aid Commission to offer Wood funding of only $50,000 for his estimated three- to four-month trial.

Wood, the one-time chauffeur to the late stockbroker Rene Rivkin, is due to stand trial on July 21 for the murder of his girlfriend Caroline Byrne in June 1995.

The 24-year-old's body was found wedged between rocks almost 12 metres out from the base of The Gap at Watsons Bay.

Given the estimated length of the trial, which is expected to involve 200 witnesses, legal sources say $50,000 would be insufficient to cover the cost of a single solicitor, let alone a senior barrister, who would usually charge between $5000 and $7000 a day.

When contacted Mr Terracini said he had been invited by the Legal Aid Commission to make a written submission regarding further funding for the trial.

Wood's solicitor, Michael Bowe, has said his client has no money, no job and is surviving on unemployment benefits. Wood's mother, Brenda, is assisting by paying his rent.

The Legal Aid Commission has asked Wood to contribute $340,000 for his legal fees, on the basis that his mother still has some assets.

However, Mr Bowe said that Mrs Wood, who is not in good health, had already exhausted her finances by funding her son's committal hearing. She has now sold her Sydney house and moved to a smaller one in Adelaide.

"She has no more funds to give him and she's totally stressed by this," Mr Bowe said.

The uncertainty about the funding for Wood's legal team has already led to the cancellation of a scheduled viewing of the murder scene which was due to take place today.

Earlier this week Justice Graham Barr said that a viewing, involving a crane lowering a cage with the judge and two barristers over The Gap, would not go ahead while Wood was without proper representation. "I regard this matter as one in which Mr Wood should be represented by experienced trial counsel," Justice Barr told the Supreme Court.