Image: Alice Springs News Online
By KIERAN FINNANE 18 November 2017 Alice Springs News Online
“Hi, Ken.”
“Good morning, Margaret.”
Not many cross-examinations begin this way.
From the bar is self-represented defendant Margaret Pestorius, accused of entering the Pine Gap prohibited area under the Defence (Special Undertakings) Act 1952.
In the witness box is Sergeant Kenneth Napier of the AFP’s Protective Services, an employee at the base for some 25 years. He is now Officer in Charge of AFP operations at the military base and in Alice Springs.
I’m known to you? asks Ms Pestorius.
Yes, he answers, looking directly at her, unlike most of the other witnesses who fix their gaze on the empty space in front of the box.
He has known her since he first met her late husband, *Bryan Law, a decade ago when Mr Law came to Pine Gap “to do an action”. He was part of the response team arresting Mr Law when he trespassed on the base.
And you sent condolences through Mr Goldflam (the Alice Springs lawyer) when he died? Yes, he did.