Driving instructor Jawad Joe Dimachki asks court to accept early guilty pleas and guarantee his sentencing discount
A DRIVING instructor has pleaded guilty to 10 bribery and abuse of public office charges in a hastily convened court hearing in order to secure himself a sentencing discount.
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A DRIVER’S licence examiner has pleaded guilty to 10 bribery and abuse of public office charges in a hastily convened court hearing in order to secure himself a sentencing discount.
Jawad Joe Dimachki’s next court appearance — on 110 counts of abusing his public office, accepting bribes and falsifying documents — was scheduled for January next year.
On Thursday, however, Dimachki and his lawyer thanked the Adelaide Magistrates Court for agreeing to hear the case “at short notice”.
Michael Woods, for Dimachki, said his client wanted to ensure he received the legislated 40 per cent discount for early guilty pleas — but only to 10 of the charges.
“We intend to plead guilty to five counts that could commonly be called ‘abuse of public office’,” he said.
“There are also other charges that might be described as ‘accepting benefits as a person in public office’, and we’re pleading guilty to five of those.
“To be frank, I’m hoping the others will be considerations (in sentencing, instead of individual charges) ... there needs to be some further discussions with the prosecution.”
Dimachki, 36, of Daw Park, was arrested on September 23 by detectives from SA Police’s anti-corruption branch.
At the time, police said the charges related to his alleged conduct “as an authorised examiner, responsible for testing candidates for driver’s licences”.
Police charged him with 14 counts of being a public officer who improperly exercised his power and 37 aggravated counts of dishonestly dealing with documents.
They filed a further 36 aggravated counts of deceiving another to benefit himself and 22 counts of receiving or accepting a bribe in exchange for making an omission.
On Thursday, Dimachki pleaded guilty to abusing public office five times in June, July and August this year at Hazelwood Park and Broadview.
He also admitted accepting benefits on five occasions, in September this year, at North Adelaide, Firle and Kensington Gardens.
The court was not told the nature of those benefits, nor how Dimachki abused his position in order to receive them.
However, Magistrate Elizabeth Sheppard noted one of the remaining 100 counts involved the alleged payment of cash in exchange for “issuing a certificate of compliance”.
The alleged victim of that charge, she said, was the Registrar of Motor Vehicles.
Prosecutors asked Dimachki’s original January court date remain on the schedule so that they could consider their position.
Ms Sheppard remanded Dimachki on continuing bail until then — he declined to comment outside court.
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