Rogue surgeon Jayant Patel’s manslaughter convictions were sound because the Crown ran the trial fairly and legally, the High Court has been told.
Patel was sentenced to seven years’ jail in July 2010 after a Queensland Supreme Court jury found him guilty of manslaughter relating to the deaths of three patients at the Bundaberg Base Hospital between March 2003 and April 2005.
He was also found guilty of causing the grievous bodily harm of a fourth man.
Patel’s legal team is currently fighting to clear his name before the full High Court in Brisbane.
However, Solicitor-General Walter Sofronoff QC, for the Crown, told the court on Thursday that their accusations that the trial was unfair were unfounded.
Mr Sofronoff told the court the Crown had, from the start, made it clear that a strong part of their case against Patel was that he shouldn’t have performed the operations because they were unnecessary and dangerous, and that other safer alternatives were available.
He rejected claims that particulars provided about the allegations were “confusing”.
Patel’s lawyers had not objected early in the trial to a vast amount of evidence which they are now claiming was so prejudicial that it led to a miscarriage of justice, he said.
However, Justice Virginia Bell pointed out that the defence did not object to the evidence because it only became irrelevant later in the trial when the Crown narrowed its case.
The hearing continues.