Buckets used by the employees of the district court in Hamilton

The Hamilton District Court is closed due to floods caused by a leak in the ceiling.
Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrery

The employees at the Hamilton district court used delayed buckets to try to catch water through the ceiling of the top floor of the building early Tuesday.

The floods were so bad that the water was placed on the main level 3 of the court in which four court halls are housed.

Judge Noel Cocurullo, the executive judge of the district courts in Waikato, said it was unclear when the building would get back into full operation.

However, it is assumed that some cases in which an audiovisual connection was involved was treated late in the morning, while on Tuesday afternoon a second courtyard could be used as a judicial court.

Judge Cocurullo supervised a legal proceedings against a Hamilton businessman who was transferred to the High Court for the seventh day.

The businessman defends six fees in relation to alleged spelling errors of the company, which uses his personal loan and bought personal items such as Weedkiller, a spray unit, a toasty machine maker and cut puppy shoes.

Overall, the man, whose name and identifying details are suppressed, is to receive $ 111,079.80.

In the meantime, judge Cocurullo informed the court that he was alerted this morning before the district court's flooding of the district court on his role as executive judge.

“I received advice from the manager of the Hamilton district court that water was poured through the ceiling of level 4.

“It was as good as hard -working management and the employees who were captured in buckets that were emptied and brought out again.

“The water comes through the ceiling and not only came down from level 4 to level 3, but also at level 3.

“The meaning is not only of water damage, but more importantly that the water comes through the ceiling.

“It clearly comes from electrical lights.”

In view of the potential risk of court users, the decision was made to close the building.

This turned away many people who came to court this morning or were waiting for further instructions.

In the meantime, the prisoners could be kept in the court cells on the lower floor, while lawyers' duty spoke outside with customers.

After judge Cocurullo inspected the damage himself, he said that a “solution is removed for some time”.

The judge said the cause of the leak was still unknown, but Nzme understands that the leak had been stopped at around 9:30 a.m.

NZME also understands that a plumber in the building was a problem last week.

This is followed by the closure of the Nelson Court of Court in February for several months after the building is a risk of earthquake.

The Ministry of Justice was addressed for a comment.

This story originally appeared in the [

New Zealand Herald].