All the court action you might have missed last week
From a meth mum’s alleged fraud scheme to multiple alleged drug dealers caught, here’s all the action from court you might have missed last week.
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From a meth mum’s alleged fraud scheme to multiple alleged drug dealers caught, here is all the action you might have missed from court last week.
Labourer busted for ‘F--- Tha Police’ video
A young man narrowly avoided jail for jumping on a police car, damaging it, and posting it on social media with NWA’s ‘F--- Tha Police’ playing.
Mitchell O’Connell Yates, 23, appeared unrepresented on Monday, pleading guilty to property damage and breach of bail agreement.
Police prosecutor John Taliangas told Magistrate Ben Sale on November 20, 2019 police found their vehicle on Woodsons Lane near Hindley St had the roof damaged.
Mr Taliangas said CCTV vision showed a man jumping on the vehicle and through facial recognition Yates was identified as a suspect.
After being interviewed he admitted to jumping on the vehicle.
Magistrate Ben Sale sentenced Yates to agree to a one-year good behaviour bond, and to pay compensation for the property damage of $4191.34.
‘I’ll stab you bro:’ Alleged thief robs elderly man
A student allegedly robbed an elderly man and then threatened to stab a good Samaritan who chased after him, a court has heard.
Samer Idrise Mohamed, 25, applied for bail by video link in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday, after he allegedly caused a man to go into shock after robbing him.
The court heard an elderly man withdrew $800 from an ATM outside the Arndale shopping centre on April 29.
“The victim sat outside the shopping centre near the taxi rank, the suspect sat with him,” the police prosecutor said.
“The suspect reaches across the victim’s body, reaching into his left hand pocket where the victim had stored his $800 and took the cash and ran off.”
A witness heard the man shout “stop him, he stole”, so the witness chased the suspect through the shopping centre.
“The suspect turned to face the victim … the suspect threatened ‘I’ll stab you bro’,” the police prosecutor said.
Magistrate Simon Smart denied bail, due to the serious allegations and Mohamed’s risk of reoffending.
Father and son allegedly bashed suspected paedophile
A vigilante father and son who believed a man was a paedophile allegedly showed up at his house and savagely bashed him.
Troy Hutchinson, 45, applied for bail by video link in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday, after he and his son, Jamie Ryan Sayers-Hutchinson, 26, allegedly committed the vicious assault.
“The victim heard banging on his front door, he went to answer the door and he noticed three males outside,” the police prosecutor said.
“As soon as he opened the door, the co-accused hit him about four times in the head.”
The court heard the man stumbled backwards and Jamie and Troy allegedly came inside the house.
“While the accused was hitting him, the co-accused was restraining him and holding him down saying the victim had touched up his daughter and that he was a paedophile,” the police prosecutor said.
Troy, of Seaford Meadows, and Jamie, of Burton, are charged with serious criminal trespass and aggravated assault.
Magistrate Koula Kossiavelos granted Hutchinson bail.
46yo man allegedly preyed on ‘vulnerable’ 15yo girl
A man is accused of indecently assaulting a 15-year-old after she consumed alcohol, despite police being right outside.
William Hancock, 46, applied for bail by video link in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday, charged with indecently assaulting a child.
The court heard the alleged victim was drinking with friends in Pooraka on May 3.
“She went into the kitchen and the accused [indecently assaulted] her,” the police prosecutor said.
The court heard Hancock then came and sat next to her on the couch before allegedly touching her hair and breasts and kissing her.
Magistrate Koula Kossiavelos granted Hancock bail, with strict conditions not to have any contact with children under the age of 18, unless in the presence of a parent or guardian.
Mum’s alleged drug business while raising 9yo
A mother was allegedly running a significant drug dealing business out of her home while raising her nine-year-old daughter.
Chun Yi Liu, 41, applied for bail by video link in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday, after a police search uncovered large amounts of drugs.
The court heard police attended Liu’s Magill address on May 4.
“On entering the premises, they found the defendant and her nine-year-old daughter,” the police prosecutor said.
“They found within the kitchen fridge two glass bottles containing approximately 400ml of GBL.”
GBL is a precursor to GHB, also known as fantasy.
Police also allegedly found six mobile phones, $8000 and hundreds of empty resealable bags.
Liu is charged with drug trafficking, manufacturing a controlled drug and possessing a large commercial quantity of controlled precursor. She is yet to enter any pleas.
Magistrate Nick Alexandrides ordered a home detention report and adjourned the bail application until next week.
Fisho busted with hundreds of illegal crabs
A 46-year-old Paralowie man has been banned from crab fishing for five years and given a $10,000 fine after being caught with 323 blue swimmer crabs including 179 that were undersized.
Mark Terrence Smith appeared in the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday charged with three counts of selling, purchasing or possessing a prescribed aquatic resource.
The court heard that in the early hours of January 14 last year, Smith was observed in a kayak at Tennyson beach taking crabs using a crab rake.
“He was observed placing them into bins at the top of the kayak without measuring them, in the shallows off Tennyson beach,” the prosecutor said.
“Fisheries officers approached the defendant on the beach and the defendant admitted it was him that caught the crabs in the bins. The bins contained 217 blue swimmer crabs and one sand crab.”
The court heard Smith then led fishery officers to his vehicle, which contained a further 106 blue swimmer crabs, one of which was carrying external eggs.
Magistrate Luke Davis convicted Smith, fined him $10,442, and made an order that he be prohibited from being in possession or control of blue swimmer crabs for a period of five years.
Meth mum’s alleged elaborate fraud scheme revealed
A mother who is accused of having stolen identification and 50 credit cards in her possession was running the fraud operation to support her drug addiction, police will allege.
Justine Dawn Smith, 36, applied for bail by video link in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Thursday, accused of running the elaborate scheme.
The court heard police searched Smith’s Bowden house.
“In that bedroom police located 50 credit cards, all in different names … there were 150 various letters which came from several different suburbs,” the police prosecutor said.
“Prosecution suspect that she is offending to support her drug addiction.”
The court heard police also found 20 marriage and birth certificates, 35 Medicare cards and 400 pages of credit card numbers.
Smith, of Bowden, is currently charged with possessing prohibited material (identity theft) and possessing a controlled drug. She is yet to enter any pleas.
Magistrate Stefan Metanomski ordered a home detention bail report and adjourned the application until next week.
Cop left ‘paranoid’, ‘intimidated’ after Facebook stalking
A police officer became “paranoid” and “intimidated” after being harassed online by a PTSD-suffering, Hells Angels-supporting, Maltese dog breeder, a court has heard.
Francesco Joseph Vazquez, 49, appeared in the District Court of South Australia on Thursday morning charged with using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence.
The Burton resident pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.
The court heard at about 3pm on December 6, 2019 a police officer pulled Vazquez over and he was tested for drugs and alcohol.
Vazquez, who was wearing a “Hells Angels supporter T Shirt”, returned a positive test to drugs and was told not to drive for the next 24 hours.
On Thursday, Judge Geraldine Davison said during the traffic stop the accused made a series of statements to the officer, including one to the effect he should have been on a “no pullover list”.
The following day the officer received a Facebook friendship request from the accused, and two notifications on his Facebook Messenger account that he wanted to connect with him.
Vazquez also contacted a friend and colleague of the officer.
Taking into account Vazquez had already served three months in custody, and had been on home detention from March 5, 2020 to April 23 this year, Judge Davison handed him a conviction and an 18-month good behaviour bond.
‘Parasite’: Alleged trafficker cops spray from magistrate
An alleged drug trafficker from Christies Beach has copped a spray from a local magistrate who said the woman was treating home detention like a “party room”.
Claire Louise Henderson, 26, is currently on home detention bail while charged with selling a controlled drug in March this year.
The Christies Beach Magistrates Court heard Henderson wanted to vary her bail address to allow her to move out of her father’s home into her own home but had recently failed a Department of Corrections drug test.
The court heard Henderson had been charged with selling methamphetamine and GHB at Bedford Park earlier this year while in possession of ice pipes, methamphetamine and prohibited weapons.
Defence lawyer Peter Hill withdrew the application to vary bail.
Henderson will face court again in December.
Upper North pair allegedly caught with 2kg of cannabis
An Upper North couple have been charged with drug trafficking after police allegedly found close to 2kg of cannabis when they stopped their car at Ottoway this week.
Both appeared in the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday via video-link, charged with the basic offence of trafficking in a commercial quantity of a controlled drug and both applied for bail.
Police prosecutor Brevet Sgt Jane Lomax said the car was pulled over on Tuesday.
“This is a serious allegation of trafficking of cannabis,” she said.
“Officers pulled over a vehicle and (the female defendant) was in the car driving.
“There was a passenger in the car – the co-accused. There was a strong smell of cannabis emanating from the vehicle.”
The court heard a search of the car located 470g of dried cannabis in a bag in the footwell on the passenger’s side of the vehicle.
Magistrate Luke Davis said he wasn’t prepared to consider any form of bail.
Both will appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court for charge determination on August 12.
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