The Age: SA lawyer accused of perverting justice - 28 August, 2006

A prominent Adelaide lawyer and his brother will stand trial on charges of perverting the course of justice in an investigation relating to a hit-and-run crash that killed a cyclist. It is alleged lawyer Eugene Norman McGee and his brother Craig Patrick McGee obstructed a police investigation into Eugene McGee’s involvement in the crash which killed cyclist Ian Humphrey in 2003.

The brothers appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday when Magistrate Frederick Field said there was sufficient evidence for the pair to stand trial in October. Eugene McGee, who’s also a former police prosecutor, was previously found guilty of driving without due care on the night he hit and killed Mr Humphrey, before fleeing the scene.

He was fined $3,100 and disqualified from driving for 12 months. The lawyer and his brother were charged with perverting the course of justice following a subsequent royal commission which found they returned to the scene after the crash but did not identify themselves to police when they were stopped at a roadblock.

The McGees, who both pleaded not guilty to the charges at a May hearing in the magistrates court, will stand trial in the Supreme Court from October 3. They each face maximum penalties of four years in jail.