Clark speaks out on legal aid law change

Prime  Minister  Helen Clark says it was wrong for the family of murder victim Karl Kuchenbecker to be asked to repay legal aid for a coroner's inquest and has given a fresh commitment to change the law.

The mother of Mr Kuchenbecker's two sons was asked to repay up to $19,000 for a lawyer to protect the boys' interests at the inquest into his death at the hands of Graeme Burton.

Burton was on parole for a previous murder when he shot Mr Kuchenbecker during a rampage in the Wainuiomata hills in January last year.

The Legal Services Agency has since told the boys' mother that the debt will be waived unless her circumstances change significantly, but Miss Clark said she should never have been asked to pay it in the first place.

"I think from the time of [Justice Minister] Annette King's very strong reaction on behalf of the Government that decision was inevitable, and I'm pleased it's been made."

She said Ms King was proceeding with plans to rescind a 1995 law change that resulted in victims of crime being asked to repay legal aid for coroners' inquests and parole hearings.

- © Fairfax NZ News