Borrows charged

NBR reports:

Whanganui National MP Chester Borrows has been charged with injuring two women with his car inMarch.

Mr Borrows, who is also the Deputy Speaker of the House, was leaving his electoral office with fellow MPand cabinet minister Paula Bennett in March but was blocked by TPP protesters.

He then proceeded to slowly drive through the protesters’ blockade, allegedly hitting two women in the process. A video was released on Facebook not long after the incident showing a woman holding her foot after the car drove through.

The two protestors were taken to Whanganui hospital.

Mr Borrows was charged with operating a vehicle on Liverpool St carelessly and causing injury to Tracey Treadwell and Denise Lockett.

Mr Borrows has told media he will be defending the charge.

The maximum penalty Mr Borrows could face if found guilty  is three months’ gaol, according to barrister Graeme Edgeler, but he says Mr Borrows is unlikely to face this.

“[The] offending is not so serious as to cause [him to lose] his seat,” Mr Edgeler tweeted. 

My sympathy is with Borrows. He was driving as slowly as you can, and the protesters chose not to move. They were blocking a legal road. Sure if he had been driving at speed, that would be different. But he was just nudging them out of the way.

We’ll see what evidence comes out in court. Will the protesters be charged for blocking the road? You have the legal right to protest in NZ, but not to do so in a way that impedes people going about their legal business, or blocking public areas.