Sydney Grandmother Faces Execution
Mrs Nguyen Thi Huong looked anguished as the court in Ho Chi Minh City read its verdict recently. The 73-year-old Vietnamese-Australian woman has been sentenced to death for heroin trafficking. It sounds implausible … incongruous, but Vietnamese community leaders in...
Crime and Corruption in the Prison System
A guard in Western Australia’s Casuarina Prison faces a string of criminal charges for allegedly smuggling drugs and other contraband into the prison. 32-year-old Scott Craig Berridge is alleged to have smuggled drugs, mobile phones and alcohol to inmates at...
Police Not Charged Despite Damning Video Footage
In spite of damning video footage that clearly shows Ray Currier being punched by police in the chest and head, then shoved and held down while being beaten on a footpath in Surfer Paradise, the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission...
Jurors Prosecuted for Googling Defendants
Juries don’t always follow the rules. In fact, jury nullification – where a jury goes against the evidence and acquits a defendant – has been a contentious issue among legal scholars for centuries. There are certain laws of evidence which apply...
Social Justice Advocate: An Exclusive Interview with Renee Eaves
Renee Eaves was four months pregnant when Constable Barry John Donnelly entered her home and arrested her on driving offences. The night that followed was hell: police at the Roma Street Watchhouse denied her medication or a bucket to vomit in,...
Men Charged A Second Time Over the Death of Lynette Daley
On the day after Australia Day in 2011, Paramedics were called to a remote area of Ten Mile Beach in Northern New South Wales. On the sand, a woman lay dead. Two men were with her when she died. For...
High-Flyer Sent to Prison for Insider Trading
30-year-old Oliver Curtis handed his wife his wedding ring and a $50 note, then gave her a hug before being taken into custody. He has been sentenced by the NSW Supreme Court to two years in prison, with a minimum...
The Devastating Impact of Criminal Prosecutions
By Blake O’Connor and Ugur Nedim 37-year-old Ian Jeffrey Wells, a volunteer firefighter with the Rural Fire Service, says he is again being dragged before the courts after being acquitted in relation to a fatal crash in 2012. The case...
VLAD Laws Are a Failure, But Will They Be Scrapped?
After confessing to their part in the ‘Broadbeach Biker Brawl’ in 2013, five motorcycle club members have escaped prison sentences. Three Bandidos motorcycle club members – President Adam White, Vice-President Ahmed Kaddour and accused instigator Jaques Teamo – were convicted...
Sydney High-Flyer Faces Prison for Insider Trading
Glitz, glamour and a luxurious lifestyle that most of us can only dream of. This is what 30-year-old high-flying Sydney banker Oliver Curtis will have to do without if sent to prison for insider trading later this week. Earlier this...
