By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Then NSW Chief Justice James Spigelman announced in 1998, that the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal would commence handing down guideline judgments relating to specific crimes to ensure consistency in sentencing. And guideline judgments would act as an indication for NSW judges and magistrates and not a prescription on… Read more »
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim In 2004, then NSW attorney general Bob Debus called on the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal (NSWCCA) to provide a guideline judgment with reference to the offence of driving with a high range of prescribed concentration of alcohol (PCA) in their system, which is commonly referred to as high… Read more »
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim A New South Wales police inspector from a specialist command left after an 8-hour-long heavy drinking session with colleagues at a couple of Sydney CBD bars, but instead of spending the night at the hotel he’d checked into, the inspector collected his bags from his room, got in his… Read more »
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim New South Wales police sergeant Matthew Kelly was driving a marked police car near Warnervale on the NSW Central Coast at around 2.20 pm on 16 April 2020, when he spotted a motorcycle ridden by Jack Roberts travelling along Sparks Road towards the entrance to the Pacific Motorway. Kelly… Read more »
“The risk of being involved in a serious car accident increases significantly when the driver’s blood alcohol range substantially exceeds the basic legal limit,” outlines a 2023 NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research report on sentencing high range prescribed concentration of alcohol drivers. “In particular”, underscored the BOCSAR researchers David Saffron and Marilyn Chilvers,… Read more »
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim The NSW Court of Criminal Appeal (NSWCCA) confirmed in a 19 February 2024 ruling that the offence of the offence of drug driving in New South Wales is an absolute liability offence, which means the long relied upon legal defence of honest and reasonable mistake of fact is not… Read more »
Seven teenagers were charged with offences ranging from car theft to police pursuit early on Monday, as NSW police attempted to stop three vehicles close to the NSW town of Woy Woy at 2.30 am, as these were suspected to be reportedly stolen from suburbs around the Central Coast. One vehicle, a BMW, rammed into a police… Read more »
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Eight years ago last Thursday, in Lismore Local Court, then NSW Magistrate David Heilpern ruled in favour of Joseph Carrall in regard to a drug driving charge, as he found the accused hadn’t consumed cannabis for “at least nine days prior” to testing positive for driving with its presence in… Read more »
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 »
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim At around 7.45 pm on 19 June 2021, Dean Mason came off his motor scooter at an intersection in the NSW town of Cardiff. The rider was then observed lying in the gutter nearby his scooter by the occupants of a car that had been travelling behind him in… Read more »
