By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim The Australian criminal justice system has its foundations in the British courts, which have long held the presumption of innocence as one of their most basic tenets. Indeed, the principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty is said to go back as far as the book of… Read more »
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim NSW parliament has just passed a bill that overhauls the way the court system deals defendants found to have a mental health or a cognitive impairment and subsequently have their charges dropped, along with an order imposed that requires them to undergo treatment. The Mental Health and Cognitive Impairment… Read more »
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim In December 2012, the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia charged James Dean and Mark Simonsen with engaging in legal practice despite being unqualified to do so. The pair of non-lawyers had provided legal advice to a husband divorcing his wife and charged $5,000 for the service. The non-lawyers… Read more »
Daniel Foran was working as security at Pyrmont’s Harlequin Hotel in the early hours of 21 June last year, when he was required to remove a patron from the establishment. After the inebriated man swung at him several times, Foran punched him, causing the customer to fall to the ground. Following the removal of the… Read more »
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Former Don Dale Youth Detention Centre detainee Dylan Voller was successful in a case brought against three of Australia’s largest media organisations last year. The First Nations man claimed the companies, as publishers, were liable for comments third parties posted on their Facebook pages. Voller’s mistreatment and brutalisation at… Read more »
NSW Supreme Court Justice Peter Hamill recently had to decide on whether an extended supervision order (ESO) should be revoked. The five year long order had been imposed upon Darryl Carr in 2009, but due to the way the supervision regime operates, it was still in force eleven years later. His Honour noted Mr Carr… Read more »
Goulburn prison inmate Brayden Spiteri finally texted his on-again, off-again girlfriend Renae Marsden on 5 August 2013, after a month of not responding. Spiteri had cut off communications as he had a court appearance coming up that might see him released and united with Marsden. The pair, who had never actually met face-to-face, became acquainted… Read more »
The man responsible for a gas-mix up at a Sydney hospital which left one baby dead and another with permanent brain damage has been fined by the New South Wales District Court. Christopher Turner was a contractor working for BOC Limited at the time he mixed-up the pipes, resulting in the tragedy. Mr Turner pleaded… Read more »
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim The former mother-in-law of Rodna Jankovic took out an apprehended domestic violence order (AVO) against her previous daughter-in-law on 20 October 2015. However, on 25 March the following year, Ms Jankovic violated the order by sending a text message to her ex-partner’s mother. The SMS tansmission warned the woman… Read more »
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Back before COVID-19 brought the NSW court system to a grinding halt, it seems that people were conjuring up fake illnesses with the aim of obtaining medical certificates from doctors to excuse them from fronting up to their scheduled court appearances. At least, that was the crux of the… Read more »
