Drone prosecution may become test case
Prosecution of a Kaiapoi man for allegedly flying a drone in controlled airspace is turning into a test case.
The case, brought by the Civil Aviation Authority against Simon Roy Reeve, is likely to become a three-day trial in the Christchurch District Court sometime next year.
The case will be determined by a judge-alone rather than a jury.
Reeve, 38, pleaded not guilty to three charges at court yesterday and was remanded on bail to November 27 for a pre-trial call-over that may set the trial date.
He denies charges that on January 5 and 20 at Pines Beach he operated a Phantom 2 remotely piloted aircraft system in controlled airspace without prior authorisation from the Air Traffic Control unit responsible for the airspace.
He also denies a charge of operating the model aircraft on January 5 “in a manner that caused unnecessary endangerment to people”.
Defence counsel Rupert Glover told Judge John Strettell that the case was estimated to take three days.
“This could turn out to be a test case,” Mr Glover said. “There are a lot of very interesting legal arguments.”
He said it was proposed to call nine prosecution witnesses as well as three or four defence witnesses. Some expert witnesses may be called.
Category: Focus
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