NSW Courts Articles

Guideline Judgments in New South Wales: Enhancing Consistency in Sentencing

During a 2006 speech he gave at the International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law, then NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery addressed the inception and benefits of a relatively new sentencing regime that had recently been established – that being guideline judgements. As he recalled, NSW was heading for a March 1999… Read more »

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New South Wales Police Officers and the Offence of Perverting the Course of Justice

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 »

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Fraud Offences Involving the Breach of a Position of Trust Require a Significant Penalty

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim After having worked at financial planning and investment company Sentinel Wealth for three years, Gavin Fineff became a financial planner in 2013, and by 2019, he was earning a substantial income plus bonuses and had 120 clients. And he’d even acquired a minority financial stake in the business. However,… Read more »

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Police Officer’s Sentence for Negligent Driving Occasioning Death Confirmed on Appeal

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 »

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Jarryd Hayne’s Successful Sexual Assault Appeal: The Reasoning Behind the Judgment

by Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Former Rugby League football star Jarryd Hayne stood trial three times in the District Court of New South Wales accused of sexual assault offences alleged to have been committed in 2018. After the first jury was ‘hung’, meaning it could not reach a verdict, he was twice found guilty,… Read more »

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Historical Sexual Assault: The Laws at the Time of the Alleged Conduct Apply

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim When the 10-year-old boy entered Year 5 at a New South Wales Catholic primary school in 1977, there would have been some level of familiarity between him and his teacher, Gaye Grant, as she knew his family outside of teaching at the educational institution she’d been working at since… Read more »

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Inadmissible Hearsay Evidence Must Not Be Allowed Before Jury, Despite Absence of Challenge

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Jason Adams was staying at Nikita Hanson’s Raymond Terrace house on 28 February 2020, as a condition of bail, when the situation deteriorated to the point that Lily Ridgeway and two male friends arrived to assist her with evicting the man on conditional release. After being thrown out, Adams… Read more »

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