***NOVY CHARDON CASE ***
Novy has not been found, however her husband was up before the beak.
I attended court this morning at Southport Magistrates Court, Gold Coast, Queensland.
Saw John Chardon as he arrived, dressed in jeans and a shirt. He was immediately shuffled off to a private room, for counsel no doubt. Shorter than I expected, wiry but with a huge belly. He walked with extra-long strides.
Courtroom 9 was like a hotel lobby with suits in and out, continually. Yours truly had the audacity to walk straight to the front row of the public gallery and sat next to the slickest looking solicitor I could find – a polished dome and pin-striped bag of fruit. I was on the money. He was Chardon’s counsel.
The prosecutor joined him for a confab before the magistrate’s appearance and they compared openings in their diaries and… joy of joys, they also discussed weaknesses in the case, I was all-ears. All of which, I cannot discuss here.
The magistrate wandered in about 9:15am (it is the Gold Coast in Qld, we have to realise); then proceeded to divvy out the morning’s cases to different courtrooms. No microphones, lots of chatter, it was a challenge I can tell you. The Chardon case was moved to courtroom #6.
Of the eight charges, 5 are for indecent assault and 3 are charges of rape of XXX during the period 1-1-1998 to 26-10-99 when John Chardon lived in Nerang. The time period of the alleged crimes is after his first wife died and before he met Novy. The victim’s name was provided. I can tell you that the victim was NOT a child of his first marriage.
There was no plea. Those eight charges have been carried over until 24 Feb 2014 – 9am, same court – for cross-examination of 24 witnesses. This will obviously take some days to be heard.
As for the remaining four charges, basically they were to do with changes to bail conditions. He was given ‘holiday-access’ to his two children he had with Novy. As for the discussed firearm charges, I missed that one. Perhaps it was a rumour, perhaps not.
cheers, MM