Now a defendant

Stuff reports:

The man who privately prosecuted former Cabinet Minister Trevor Mallard has been charged with blackmail.

Graham McCready, 67, is charged with threatening to expose a defamatory libellous document with intent to cause a man to act in accordance with his will on July 5 in 2010.

He was remanded on bail by Wellington District Court judge Bruce Davidson for three weeks. One of his bail conditions is that he is not allowed to contact the man named in the charge.

He has not entered a plea.

Can’t comment in detail as this is before the courts, but fair to say Trevor will be smiling.

I’m not actually a huge fan of private prosecutions due to the potential to be abusive, but they are a safety valve against the state in the case of inaction.