While thousands of Victorians have seen the series through bootleg DVDs or internet downloads, the Victorian Court of Appeal today dismissed Nine’s appeal against the suppression order banning the drama. But the court said Nine may be able to show the series once an upcoming gangland murder trial, the verdict and any subsequent appeal period is over.
Justice King ordered the ban because of concerns by the Director of Public Prosecutions that the series would prejudice the trial of a man, who can only be identified as A, and which is due to start next week. While upholding Justice King's ban, Chief Justice Marilyn Warren and Justices Frank Vincent and Murray Kellam found the order was too wide. “It purported to bind every person in Victoria,” they ruled. “In our view, an order made against the applicant not to publish the program Underbelly in Victoria until after the completion of the trial was all that was necessary.”
But the judges warned the reworked order did not give the public the right to publish any part of the series, however they obtained it. DPP Jeremy Rapke QC backed the warning. “It is extremely important that nothing is done which could affect A’s ability to receive a fair trial,” Mr Rapke said in a statement. “I urge all Victorians to heed the stern warning contained in the judgment of the Court of Appeal and to refrain from publishing or exhibiting the series or any part of it, until the completion of A’s trial.”
Rejecting the appeal, the three judges found that if Nine had been able to broadcast Underbelly in Victoria, the 13-part series would have been up to episode eight by the time the jury was empanelled for A’s trial. "Had a jury been empanelled, the trial would have commenced with the prosecution case effectively being supported every Wednesday evening by the weekly docu-drama,” the appeal judges ruled. “In our view taking into account the proximity of the trial and that fact, the judge (Betty King) rightly considered that the dramatic portrayal of matters of mixed fact and fiction which directly relates to the trial of A was a matter of most serious concern.”
The court ruled that Nine be prohibited from broadcasting Underbelly or any part of the series in Victoria until after the trial of A and any subsequent appeal. It also ruled that Nine be prohibited from publishing on the internet in Victoria the ‘Family Tree website - inside Underbelly’, which looks at the evolving relationships between the key characters, until after the trial. A Nine spokeswoman said the network hoped to show Victorians the series, which has been a major ratings winner in other states, as soon as it could.
