NSW Courts Articles

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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Sentence Reduced Because Lawyer Neglected to Meet Deadline for Guilty Plea Discount

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim At around 12.30 am on 8 October 2019, Bradley Green turned up at Kayla Lister’s home. The then 24-year-old Green was accompanied by a friend who wasn’t quite 18. Lister too, was with a male younger than 18, as well as a third male, who was about to become the… Read more »

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Inmate Released on Appeal, After Trial Judge Misapplied Mental Illness Defence

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim On 22 September 2017, Nick Masters veered onto the wrong side of Port Macquarie’s Hastings River Drive, and collided head on with a car being driven by a Mr Ashenden, who was killed, whilst his wife, Mrs Ashenden was seriously injured. NSW District Court Judge Mark Marien found Masters… Read more »

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Probative Value is of Primary Importance When Determining Admissibility of Tendency Evidence

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim A five justice bench of the High Court of Australia determined on 19 October that a NSW Supreme Court trial that saw the jury find a Coffs Harbour man guilty of the murder of his two-and-a-half-year-old stepdaughter that heavily relied on tendency evidence was correct in doing so. The young girl… Read more »

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The New Offence of Threatening a Criminal Defence Lawyer in New South Wales

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Times have certainly changed in the legal realm in terms of who needs protection from whom. Back in the early 1990s, laws were enacted to protect judges, prosecutors, witnesses and others involved in cases against those accused of committing crimes from threats and reprisals that would obviously be perpetrated… Read more »

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NSW Police Gifted Draconian Search Powers Relating to Encrypted Devices

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim The Perrottet government, last Thursday, passed a new encryption-busting bill as part of an ongoing drive by the authorities to get around systems that encode our online communications to keep them out of the view of prying eyes that most often seem to be government and law enforcement. Passed… Read more »

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