Do I Need To Attend My Local Court Case During The Coronavirus Pandemic?
The Chief Magistrate of the NSW Local Court, Judge Graeme Henson, has made announcements about changes the court will implement from Monday, 30 March 2020 in response to the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) Pandemic. These changes are aimed at managing the thousands...
Imprisoning the Innocent: The Causes of Wrongful Convictions in Australia
‘It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer’. These words of 18th century English jurist William Blackstone resonate just as loudly today as they did back then in relation to the magnitude of the injustice...
From One Prison to Another: Medevac Detainees Face Uncertain Future
More than 40 men are being detained in a hotel in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, in what might as well be called ‘no man’s land’. Evacuated from Papua New Guinea under the previous medevac transfer system, they are now stuck in...
How Can I Get a Pro Bono Lawyer in New South Wales?
The Law Council of Australia warned in July that legal aid funding is at “breaking point”, following a high-profile murder trial in NSW having to be postponed because of the deplorably low pay rates that simply weren’t attracting barristers that...
Section 32 Mental Health Applications: A Psychiatrist’s Report is Not Necessary
Joseph Perdicaro was charged with two criminal offences on 6 April 2018. The first was stalking or intimidation with intent to cause physical or mental harm under section 13 of the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 (NSW). This...
Sydney Brothers Not Guilty of Manslaughter
Our client is a 40 year old man from Greystanes in greater Western Sydney. He lived with his older brother and elderly mother until her death in September 2017. On 23 August 2017, our client and his brother called an...
Are There Situations Where a Person Who ‘Confesses’ Should Plead ‘Not Guilty’?
Tim Watkins was only 22 years old when he was left for dead by the side of Wilsons Creek Road earlier this year. He was riding his bicycle home from a mates’ house shortly after midnight on a road he...
The Rules for Changing a Plea from Guilty to Not Guilty
On 30 June 2004, Raymond Wong pleaded guilty before a magistrate in the Sydney Local Court to one count of committing an act of indecency, contrary to repealed section 61N of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW). At the time, Wong...
The Defence of Mental Illness in New South Wales
Being found not guilty by reason of mental illness isn’t just the stuff of good fiction crime novels, as a recent case in the Supreme Court of New South Wales demonstrates. In that case, a 38-year old father who stabbed...
UN to Inspect Australian Prisons
United Nations Inspectors will have ‘unfettered access’ to Australian-run detention centres when they visit Australia in the coming months. It will be the first time inspectors have visited Australia. Such routine visits are one of the obligations of the Optional...
