Jurors admit to playing Sudoku at trial

AN Australian judge was forced to abandon a three-month drugs trial when jurors admitted they were doing Sudoku puzzles to fight off boredom.

Sydney District Court Judge Peter Zahra aborted proceedings after the jury forewoman admitted she and four others had been playing the numbers game since the second week of the hearing.

She told the judge the brain-teasers had helped “keep my mind busy” as she listened to testimony from the 105 witnesses at the trial, which has cost more than $1 million so far.

“Some of the evidence is rather drawn out and I find it difficult to maintain my attention the whole time and that [the puzzle] doesn’t distract me too much from proceedings,” she said.

One of the defendants — facing a possible life sentence for conspiracy to manufacture a commercial quantity of amphetamines — noticed the forewoman completing the puzzle.

Lawyers had presumed the scribbling was simply note-taking.

“We actually all thought they were quite a diligent jury,” solicitor Robyn Hakelis, who represented one of the accused, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The jurors face no penalty for their behaviour and a new panel is expected within weeks.