By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim NSW police executed a search warrant on 15 April 2020, at a house in Yagoona, where Quoc Toan Chu lived with his parents. When officers arrived at the premises, Chu indicated which room was his. And when asked if that was where the drugs were hidden, he replied, “Just… Read more »
Posts Categorized: NSW Courts
What Are the New Sexual Consent Laws in New South Wales?
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim In response to a broad debate about sexual violence towards women both globally and across the country, as well as a local focus around the 2013 alleged Lazarus sexual assault case in Kings Cross, new sexual consent laws took effect in NSW on 1 June last year. Passed in November the… Read more »
Personality Disorders Should Be Considered a Mitigating Factor in Sentencing
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim NSW police were again called to attend the home of Sandra Wornes on 28 July 2019, as the 46-year-old woman had once more physically assaulted her long-term partner Mr Robson. Wornes, who suffers from a personality disorder, had grabbed the 47-year-old man by the neck and punched him. Despite… Read more »
Courts Must Apply a 25% Sentencing Discount for All Early Guilty Pleas
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim On the afternoon of 19 December 2018, Belmont South resident Guy McCulloch suddenly reversed his car towards Justin Fuller, who was in pursuit of it on foot. Holding two machetes, Fuller then reached in and stabbed the driver five times, with one blow penetrating McCulloch’s liver fatally. Fuller was… Read more »
Prosecutors Routinely Ignore Their Legal Duty to Serve Evidence on the Defence
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim A duty of disclosure exists within the NSW criminal justice system, and in all other jurisdictions across the nation, which requires the prosecution to provide the defence with all the evidence it has prior to the trial commencing. This stipulation exists in the legislative guidelines governing the various state criminal… Read more »
Questioning Ruled Inadmissible as ASIO Agents Had Effectively Kidnapped the Suspect
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Prior to empanelling a jury for the 2007 trialling of Izhar Ul-Haque on a charge of training with a known terrorist organisation, NSW Supreme Court Justice Michael Adams had to make voir dire determination, which is a decision on whether evidence before a court is admissible. The evidence in question… Read more »
Gay Hate Murder Conviction Quashed, Despite Defendant’s Guilty Plea
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Releasing its final findings in late 2017, the third coronial inquest into the death of US mathematician Scott Johnson, whose body was found at the base of Blue Fish Point in the Sydney suburb of Manly on 10 December 1988, determined it was the result of a gay hate crime…. Read more »
A Tendency Cannot Be Established Solely from the Alleged Offences Being Tried
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Rungnapha Kanbut was sentenced to over 8 years prison in 2019, after a jury found her guilty on slavery offences relating to her involvement in a human smuggling scheme that saw Thai sex workers brought into the country and then coerced into working off a debt. The case against… Read more »
Sentence for Fraud Reduced, as Scheme was Unsophisticated and Yield Was Only Modest
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim The Australian Government Disaster Relief Payment (AGDRP) is a one-off $1,000 amount provided to Australian residents impacted by a disaster. And due to the circumstances victims of disasters face, proof of identity doesn’t need to be cited immediately, but rather within 28 days of applying. Over the period 15… Read more »
Conviction For Assaulting Baby Quashed Due to Insufficient Evidence
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim On 29 October 2018, Griffith Base Hospital staff found multiple wounds and bruising on the body of 13-month-old Ella. The child was acting lethargic, and she was unable to open her eyes. This was in stark contrast to how she had presented at the same hospital two days prior…. Read more »