Jury Trials Return to NSW After a 3-Month Freeze
By Poppy Morandin & Jimmy Singh. With COVID-19 related restrictions easing and business seemingly returning to normal for most of New South Wales, the District Court has begun criminal trials before juries again. The return will be done under strict measures including temperature checks and screening questions for jurors, in order to prevent individuals ...continue reading
Law on Drug Smuggling Charges in NSW
While Australia no longer have the death sentence as a penalty, China still has it under its criminal justice system. Australia completely abolished the death sentence by 1985, in fact the federal government legislated against capital punishment. The last ever recorded execution by way of a death penalty in Australia was in 1967, Victoria ...continue reading
How Does COVID-19 Affect Bail Applications in NSW?
By Fouad Awada and Jimmy Singh. On 30 March 2020, the Supreme Court of New South Wales handed down a decision granting conditional bail to Mr Abdul Rakielbakhour who was accused and charged with serious domestic violence charges. Mr Rakielbakhour was arrested and charged with common assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, alleged ...continue reading
Man Jailed for Reporting Hoax Bomb Threat in Attempt to Delay Flight He Was Running Late For
By Sahar Adatia and Jimmy Singh. For decades now, the aviation industry has been wrestling with rising numbers of hoax bomb threats communicated in wide-ranging ways. Not only are such hoaxes on the increase, they also seem to be taking place with a vast array of motives behind them and even though a threat ...continue reading
Penalties for Discriminating Against Race or Colour
By Sahar Adatia and Jimmy Singh. In February 2020, Sydney resident, Angela Prendergast, found herself on a suburban train when a middle-aged Caucasian female boarded and began yelling at a young Asian-Australian mother who was quietly travelling with her baby. Unbeknownst to Ms Prendergast at the time, that Saturday afternoon, a racial attack would ...continue reading
What are the Rules Around NSW Police Strip Searching a Person?
241,000 is the number that has been given to NSW Police Officers, representing the quota for conducting personal searches, including strip searches on people for the 2019 financial year. In fact, in 2019, NSW Police failed to meet its quota by just under 2000 searches. NSW Greens managed to obtained the shocking revelation through the ...continue reading
What is a Criminal Lawyers’ Role?
Criminal lawyers represent people from all walks of life. Unfortunately, movies and TV shows have portrayed criminal lawyers in a bad light, prompting members of the public asking the question criminal lawyers get asked too often, “but how can you defend a criminal?”, or “how can you defend a guilty person?”. Too often we ...continue reading
What is the Maximum Sentence for Possessing Child Abuse Material?
It’s reported that a 30-year-old man allegedly possessed a child-like sex doll in his home in South Australia. He is also alleged to have ordered various children’s clothes, which included child underwear, swimwear and school uniforms. Authorities were given a tip off from PayPal Australia and NSW Police, which instigated an investigation by South ...continue reading
Penalties & Defences for Importing Commercial Quantity of MDMA into Australia
It is reported that two men have allegedly tried to import 645kg of MDMA drugs from Cyprus to Sydney by hiding it in aluminium BBQ’s. Police allege that the drugs were being imported to Sydney in 200 aluminium barbeques in July last year. Following an investigation lasting 6-months, authorities have arrested two men, a ...continue reading
Law, Penalties & Defences for Possessing Child Pornography
He is amongst New Zealand’s richest, not to mention one of the most well-known and respected amongst businessmen, Sir Rob Brierley who is reported to have been approached and arrested by police at the Sydney International airport before being charged with allegedly possessing child pornography. Considered an elite businessman, the 82-year-old man started R ...continue reading