NSW Courts Articles

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 »

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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 »

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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 »

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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 »

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Lawyer Struck Off for Stealing Nearly $1 Million to Gamble

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim On 17 January 2017, NSW man Tony Nash made a complaint to the NSW Legal Services Commissioner about a delay in receiving trust money relating to the sale of his property from solicitor Barbara Ann Green, who’d been acting on his behalf regarding the transaction. On taking over the case,… Read more »

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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 »

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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 »

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NSW Government Broadens the Reach of Anti-Money Laundering Laws

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim NSW police minister Paul Toole told the NSW lower house on 21 September that he understands that “serious organised criminal groups” are these days using “professional money launderers”, who benefit from a level of “strategic ignorance” about the origins of the money they’re cleaning. These circumstances then create a barrier… Read more »

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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 »

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Jury Reinstated in Murder Trial, After Judge Dismissed All Due to Actions of One Juror

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim The trial into whether Paul Anthony Watson murdered William Chaplin sometime between 31 March and 30 May 2010 in the southwestern NSW town of Gerogery commenced on 5 September this year in the NSW Supreme Court, with three weeks set aside for it. The Crown had closed its case… Read more »

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