Australia, Aug. 16 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on July 15:
1. HIS HONOUR: The Court must deal with three applications relating to a juvenile, IA, who is 17 years of age. The applications relate to his imprisonment and are applications by IA for variation of bail that had been granted and a release application in relation to an offence or offences for which bail had been refused. The third application is a detention application made by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (hereinafter "the CDPP" or "the Commonwealth") in respect of the bail that had already been granted.
2. The offences with which IA (hereinafter "the applicant") has been charged are most serious. The first two offences charged against the applicant are terrorism or terrorism related offences. The applicant is charged with conspiracy to engage in an act in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act, contrary to ss 11.5(1) and 101.6(1) of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) (hereinafter "the Criminal Code") and supply, or knowingly take part in the supply, of a firearm to another person who was not authorised to possess the firearm by a licence or permit contrary to s 51(1) of the Firearms Act 1996 (NSW).
3. For those offences, notwithstanding the legislative limitations, the applicant was granted bail. However, the bail conditions included a requirement for private electronic monitoring, which, under legislation recently passed by the NSW legislature, is no longer permissible as a condition of bail.
4. The second set of charges arose as a consequence of the investigation of the first set of charges. The law enforcement personnel on the search of electronic equipment, said to be possessed by the applicant, discovered material which gave rise to six counts of using a carriage service to access child abuse material, contrary to s 474.22(1) of the Criminal Code and a further six counts of possession or control of child abuse material, contrary to s 474.22A(1) of the Criminal Code. Those subsequent charges led to the applicant's subsequent arrest and the refusal of bail.
5. The seriousness of the offences that have been charged are obvious. The conspiracy to engage in a terrorist act carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment; the supply of a firearm carries a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment; the offence of using a carriage service to access child abuse material carries a maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment (for each offence); as does each offence of possession or control of child abuse material.
6. As stated, the applicant is 17 years of age. He is a juvenile and is currently housed in a maximum-security prison, on account of the circumstance that he has been charged with a terrorist offence and all persons so charged are, until they are otherwise classified, accommodated in such a facility. A prisoner is never classified while on remand.
7. The applicant was arrested on 22 April 2024 in relation to certain different offending, contrary to the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) (hereinafter "the Crimes Act"), being an alleged assault which occurred at a bottle shop. Because of that arrest, the applicant's mobile phone was seized. The search of the mobile phone resulted in the terrorism charges for which the applicant was arrested and charged on 24 April 2024.
8. On 10 July 2024, Magistrate Mulroney of the Parramatta Children's Court granted bail on strict conditions, which included electronic monitoring conducted otherwise than by the State. Apparently, the Commonwealth does not have the facility to conduct electronic monitoring.
*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/198109aa5b9ce08b638c004b)
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
