By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim At around 11:55am on 19 November 2005, Ashley Ronald Legge approached a man withdrawing money from an automatic teller machine in a shopping mall at Castle Hill. Mr Legge placed his arm around the man’s shoulder, leant in and demanded the cash. When the man refused, Legge reached into… Read more »
NSW Courts Articles
Sentence for Drug Supply and Proceeds of Crime Amounted to Double Punishment
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim After receiving information that one Aaron Edward Hutchinson was involved in the supply of prohibited drugs in the Penrith local area command, police began an investigation in early 2010. An undercover operation was arranged and, in April, Mr Hutchinson supplied an undercover officer with cocaine on three separate occasions…. Read more »
DPP Appeals ‘Inadequate’ Sentence for Large Commercial Drug Supply
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Damon Ehrlich was arrested on 15 November 2009, in relation to 261.6 grams of methamphetamine that NSW police found in the possession of Lasalo Paeu at Sydney airport. Mr Paeu and Brent Taylor were about to board a plane to Perth, in order to supply the drugs for on… Read more »
Factors are not ‘Aggravating’ if they are Implicit in the Offence
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim On 24 August 2006, a NSW police undercover operative spoke to Bilal Mansour on his mobile phone and arranged to purchase 3.5 grams of cocaine from him for $1,250. Mansour then drove from his place to his parent’s home, where the deal took place on the veranda. The undercover… Read more »
Murder Sentence Reduced Because Judge Misapplied the Law
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim On 30 April 2003, Campsie tiler Gil Bum Yun was celebrating his thirtieth birthday at his Beaumont Street unit, when the men present decided to take the party to a local karaoke bar. Mr Yun lived at the apartment with his mother and an older man, Sun Chun Zie,… Read more »
Alleged Whiteley Forgers Acquitted Due to Prosecution’s Omission
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim In late 2007, investment banker and Sydney Swans chairman Andrew Pridham bought the painting Blue Lavender Bay for $2.5 million. The purchase was made on the understanding that the artwork had been painted by renowned Australian artist Brett Whiteley. The late artist’s wife, Wendy Whiteley, paid a visit to Mr… Read more »
Sentence for Commercial Drug Supply Slashed Due to Subjective Factors
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim On 30 December 2011, Canadian authorities detected the secretion of various illegal drugs within a commercial oven, which was set to be flown to Sydney and delivered to an Italian restaurant in the NSW Central Coast town of The Entrance. The illicit substances were removed from the oven, and… Read more »
Prasad Directions: When the Judge Directs the Jury They Can Return a Not Guilty Verdict
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim In Australian criminal trials, the Crown (or prosecution) presents its case first – calling its witnesses to testify one at a time. Those witnesses give ‘evidence in chief’ for the prosecution before they are subjected to cross-examination by the defence. After all of the prosecution witnesses have finished testifying,… Read more »
Justice Delayed is Justice Denied: NSWCCA Appeals Move at a Snail’s Pace
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim On 23 May 2012, Shane Hoskins and an accomplice broke into a funeral home in Moree. Mr Hoskins tried to smash through a glass panel with a rock but, when that didn’t work, he kicked in the front door and security grille. The pair carried away a flat screen… Read more »
The ‘Ceiling Principle’ in NSW Appeals Cases
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Just after midnight on 2 September 1991, Paul Darcey Armstrong met Filipe Flores at the Exchange Hotel on Oxford Street in Sydney’s Darlinghurst. The pair left the nightclub, and Armstrong drove Flores to Lincoln Crescent in Waterloo. Mr Armstrong then performed oral sex on the 27-year-old Ecuadorian man at… Read more »