After five years in charge of Walgett, Narromine, Lightning Ridge and Wellington courts, magistrate Claire Girotto has farewelled the bush and returned to the Illawarra region she grew up in.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Respected and admired for her compassion, thoroughness and empathy, magistrate Girotto's stint in Western NSW was originally only meant to last two years but she ended up falling in love with the region and became reluctant to say goodbye.
"I didn't know what I was getting into, especially with Walgett. I had no idea where Walgett was or what it meant," the magistrate admitted in a farewell interview with Australian Community Media.
"It's a wonderful community. People were very respectful and I didn't expect them to be because their perception is often that I'm going to do something nasty to them."
While magistrate Girotto mainly worked in smaller courts around Dubbo, she did occasionally work in the city and called it home.
"I've made a lot of friends here. I love the pace of Dubbo. Country life's pretty good. I like the frankness of country people and I like the resilience of women in the country," she said.
"I was living in Potts Point before I came here and I loved it but I can't go back there now. It's fast and overpriced."
Fresh approaches
Soon after magistrate Girotto arrived in Walgett, she realised country courts were slightly less formal than the city ones she had predominately worked in and she used the realisation as an opportunity to engage defendants.
"Because Walgett is small and a little bit informal compared to Sydney I just started talking to the defendant directly about what they'd done and what they were going to do and they talked back in Walgett," magistrate Girotto said.
"I always say to the lawyer 'get out of the way so I can see your client because I want to talk to him'."
Magistrate Girotto often questioned people who appeared before her in the hope it would help them understand the effects of their behaviour and reduce recidivism.
"I try to appeal to their future and their children," the magistrate said as she recounted questions she posed to one defendant.
"I said 'do you remember the first time you saw your parents hit each other? How afraid you must have been the first time it happened? Your kid is now you when you were two-years-old. Do you realise you're doing to your kid what your parents did to you?'.
"I do hear that its made a difference in some cases."
A kind court
Respect was something magistrate Girotto prided herself on showing all parties in court proceedings and that approach was often praised by legal representatives who appeared before her.
"I believe you treat people with respect, you don't humiliate them because they've done something wrong. That doesn't mean they're evil. They've made a mistake. A lot of them come from terrible backgrounds, of depravity, of violence and you have to understand they are a product of what they've learnt," the magistrate said.
"If they come in and for example they've been on drugs and you can clearly see they're not on drugs anymore because they look healthy, they've put on weight and they're happier, the first thing I'll say to them is 'gee you look good, have you stopped taking drugs' and they go 'yeah' and it works. They walk out feeling really good because the magistrate has said 'gee you look good' or 'you have learnt to read' or 'you got your licence... good on you'."
Criticism copped
When she considered what sentence to give an offender, magistrate Girotto said she always thought about the views a "reasonable person" would have if they were in court and had complete access to all the offender's details and offence information.
"It's very easy to say 'this person did X, Y and Z therefore A, B and C should happen to that person, generally meaning jail.
"But I think before people jump to conclusions they should actually inform themselves about what happened in that case or go and watch it.
"Jail should only be considered when there is nothing else available."
Big workload
While the role of magistrate is not something many people ever have on their resume, the job is not completely dissimilar to others.
"I take a lot of work home," magistrate Girotto confessed.
"Because it's so busy I often reserve judgments."
When asked if she worried about making mistakes, magistrate Girotto said "yep, of course I do".
"That's one reason I reserve. I don't want to miss something. I reserve because I don't want to find someone guilty who isn't and I don't want to find someone not guilty who is."
- Magistrate Girotto departed Dubbo before Christmas. She will return to the region for two weeks in 2020.
