By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Coming into effect on 1 July 2002, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court established not only the ICC, but it sets in place the four core international criminal offences of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crimes of aggression. The treaty applies to 123 states…. Read more »
Posts By: Sydney Criminal Lawyers
Judge Criticises Cowboy Prosecutors and Calls on Government to Pay Defendant’s Legal Costs
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Just after 9 am on 28 November 2021, local man Simon Fleming appeared at the intersection of Windang and Acacia Streets in the Wollongong, armed with a bolt action rifle, a gel blaster that appeared to be a self-loading rifle and a silver case resembling an explosive device. Fleming… Read more »
The Shepherd Direction: Fundamental Facts Must Be Proved Beyond Reasonable Doubt in Circumstantial Cases
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim In the mid-1970s, the “Mr Asia” drug syndicate commenced operations. It was a multi-million-dollar criminal network initially importing cannabis and then heroin from Southeast Asia into Australia, New Zealand and the UK, via Singapore distributor Choo Cheng Kui or Chinese Jack. James “Diamond Jim” Shepherd was initially the network’s banker…. Read more »
Police Officer Fails to Have Assault Charges Dismissed on Mental Health Grounds
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim On 13 September 2022, officers attached to the NSW Police Central Metropolitan Region Enforcement Squad were conducting a surveillance operation in a street in the western Sydney suburb of Prospect, where a stolen Audi Q5 car had been noted as parked and left unattended. Just after 10:30 pm, the… Read more »
The Defence of Automatism: No Criminal Responsibility for Unconscious and Unforeseeable Conduct
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim At 4.51 am on 19 December 2019, Nicholas Parker was driving his father’s car along Kurrajong Road in the NSW town of Richmond, when the 19-year-old apprentice electrician fell asleep, veered across to the other side of the road and hit two cyclists riding along the shoulder of the… Read more »
Terrorism Offences: Judges Must Properly Consider Mitigating Factors During Sentencing
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim A 15-year-old male came to the attention of the AFP’s NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) in May 2015, as he’d been accessing violent Islamic extremist material online. The AFP’s National Disruption Group (NDG) then got in touch with the teen’s family and suggested his father make a plan… Read more »
Conduct Suggesting Consciousness of Guilt Insufficient to Convict, Appeal Court Finds
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Just after noon on 10 August 2018, Jeff McKee burst into the Hereford Street home of Blake Davis in Sydney’s Glebe. Davis was eating breakfast with his girlfriend Hannah Quinn, when the intruder, armed with a set of knuckledusters and a handgun, appeared inside the house. McKee screamed at… Read more »
Man Acquitted of Historical Criminal Charges as NSW Police Had Fabricated the Evidence
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Eric Honeysett was arraigned and pleaded not guilty before a jury in the Supreme Court of New South Wales on 6 October 1987 for one count of supplying a prohibited drug under section 25 of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (NSW) and one of malicious wounding with… Read more »
Lawyer Twice Found Not to Have Perverted the Course of Justice in Suggesting Illness to Client
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Sydney criminal defence lawyer Mohammed Zreika was found guilty of the offence of perverting the course of justice, under section 319 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), by Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson at Sutherland Local Court on 19 November 2021. The offence carries a maximum penalty of 14 years behind bars. The magistrate… Read more »
Legal Costs Can Be Ordered in Favour of Legally Aided Defendants, Court Confirms
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim A Supreme Court jury found the accused man, Simon Rodden, not guilty of a charge of murder on 22 July 2022, over an incident which was alleged to have occurred in June 2017. The accused was granted legal aid in early 2020, with the terms of the grant requiring… Read more »