By Jordan Baker, Perry Duffin and Amber Schultz
The brochure promises spa nights, baking classes and music therapy “with Maggie”. At this leafy country rehab, men accused of serious crimes – violence against women, firearm offences, high-level drug smuggling – can dry out as they cool off in the pool, practise jiu-jitsu, and relax over a spot of tennis.
In reality, neighbours say, the Mudgee Private rehabilitation centre is not so idyllic. They have seen arguments, ambulances and at least one collapse, all to a booming soundtrack. “They play loud music full of expletives all day,” said one parent of young children who, like other residents, spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the nature of the charges against the facility’s residents.
John Kolic, a repeat domestic violence offender, is one of the men sent to the Mudgee facility. The spa is featured in their promotional material.
Many in Mudgee are furious, saying the council hasn’t even finished considering the rehab’s application to operate as a group home. Residents say they run into men with their pants rolled up to show ankle bracelets in the cafes, supermarket and in the street. Mayor Des Kennedy said a man with an ankle bracelet had been spotted at the pub. “They’re intimidating,” he said.
Police are worried, too. In an attempt to stop a drug dealer being bailed there, an officer told the NSW Supreme Court that the facility did not notify police if residents were allowed to leave, had insufficient supervision for someone facing a charge that carried life imprisonment, and had a manager who lacked formal training in drug and alcohol rehabilitation.
Yasser Nour set up the Mudgee Private rehab centre.Credit:
But the head of the facility, Yasser Nour, said Mudgee Private took a zero-tolerance approach to breaches, ensured around-the-clock monitoring of patients – they had a minder if off-site – and insisted on respectful behaviour. “Judging [residents] solely based on the visible presence of the ankle monitor rather than on their ongoing efforts and behaviour, I believe, would be an unfair reflection on their true character,” he said.
Questions are being asked about the role of private rehabilitation in the justice system after a Herald investigation into security concerns at another private centre, Connect Global, prompted a review of the Port Stephens facility by the Attorney-General’s Department.
In January, a month after the revelations, a man facing drug-smuggling charges allegedly fled Connect Global using forged documents and tried to sail to freedom in Indonesia.
Similar questions are now being asked in Mudgee about the lack of oversight of private rehabilitation facilities in NSW, particularly when those facilities are accepting people on bail for serious drug, violence and weapons charges.
“I can’t believe a magistrate of the court sends people facing major criminal charges somewhere that’s not even allowed to house a rehab facility [by the council],” said Kennedy. “The system is buggered.”
A spokesman for NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley said the minister had asked the Department of Communities and Justice about “options for better oversight of rehabilitation facilities in relation to bail”.
Until March last year, the property in Bombira on Mudgee’s outskirts was a family home. It was purchased for $1.7 million by a company then owned by high-profile Sydney criminal lawyer Ahmed Dib. He rented the property to Nour, who he knows through family connections, and Nour opened Mudgee Private rehab centre. (Dib has nothing to do with the rehab business and has no input, control or oversight into its operation, documents seen by the Herald confirm, and he sold the landholding company to Nour in October.)
The retreat bills itself as “the perfect getaway for people to better themselves”.Credit:
An application to allow the facility to operate as a group home is still before Mid-Western Regional Council. But the council issued a stop-use order late last year because the facility was already operating as such without permission. Mudgee Private mounted a challenge in the Land and Environment Court, and the case is ongoing.
Neighbours of the Mudgee facility, some of whom have young children, only learnt that a local house had become a rehabilitation facility for accused criminals when one of them came face to face with one.
They say the advertised routine does not seem to be followed, and that the men often come and go. “The residents are beside themselves,” said Kennedy. “You’ve got people on bail walking around our town with ankle bracelets on, walking into our pubs and cafes and Woolworths.” (Nour said residents were not allowed to visit pubs.)
Two neighbours – neither of whom wanted to be identified because they feared for their safety due to serious charges against the facility’s clients – said a local child saw a man collapsing on the front lawn (Nour said the man was resting). The music was loud and full of expletives, they said (Nour said the music hasn’t been explicit, and residents had been told to turn it down), and they had seen fights (Nour said there had been two arguments but no fights).
“I absolutely think there are people concerned,” said one neighbour. “I don’t think anyone’s opposed to drug rehabilitation. I think it’s more just the links to organised crime and just the underhanded way that it seems to have been that they’ve gone about things.”
Mudgee Private bills itself as “the perfect getaway for people to better themselves”. It has five bedrooms and three toilets, and while it now hosts about six men, the council application says it hopes to house up to 14. There’s a spa, a tennis court and a pool. It costs $35,000 for six months. The site offers “support in accessing a compassionate supply of your superannuation” to pay.
The facility’s website advertises a doctor – Nour’s father – a social worker and a psychologist, who until recently was a woman who advertised online as a specialist in children on the autism spectrum (she quit in January, and Nour said her replacement has experience in substance abuse).
The centre at Bombira, near Mudgee.Credit: Kate Geraghty
The patients’ routine, according to the application lodged with the council, begins at 7.30am with chores, breakfast and reflection. Mornings used to alternate between Alcohol or Narcotics Anonymous meetings and music therapy “with Maggie”, although Maggie has now been replaced with a yoga teacher. The evenings end with trivia or bonfires or, on Saturdays, a spa night. Lights are out at 9.30pm.
The council is expected to decide on the application next month. Yet while it deliberates, the courts have been finding that people accused of serious crimes, who might otherwise be on remand in prison, can be bailed there without unacceptable risk.
Kamal El Jamal was sent there in September. He is now in prison and awaiting sentencing after admitting to shooting a bullet through his garage ceiling, which hit his wife as she lay in bed. He abandoned her in a hospital driveway. The bullet caused life-changing spinal injuries.
John Kolic, a repeat domestic violence offender facing charges of intimidation and contravening an AVO, was sent there by Parramatta bail court in September. Kolic was told not to leave the Mudgee facility unless he was with family or a staff member. However, in December he was back before a magistrate, who heard he had been caught getting drunk while travelling to Sydney for court.
Some applications fail. In early October, Ashur Durbridge, who is accused of assault, robbery and shooting at a person with intent to murder, applied for bail there. Nour told the court he was suitable for the facility, but the crown prosecutor was opposed, submitting that “the [alleged] victims were held for more than 12 hours, they were beaten, shot and intimidated”.
Kamal El Jamal (left) pleaded guilty to a string of charges relating to the shooting of his wife.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
The judge refused bail but said there was nothing “before me to say it is not a legitimate and bona fide facility providing appropriate rehabilitation treatment”.
Another accused drug dealer, Michael Khatib, is at Silverwater Prison on remand. He was allegedly found with a cache of drugs at two properties, including 1.4 kilograms of heroin. He, too, has tried to convince the Supreme Court to grant him bail to Mudgee Private.
Again, the police are fighting back. In a letter to the judge, dated January 31, the officer in charge of the investigation strongly opposed bail “due to its insufficient supervision, lack of transparency, and limited formally trained health professionals” at Mudgee Private.
‘You’ve got people on bail walking around our town with ankle bracelets on, walking into our pubs and cafes and Woolworths.’
Mudgee mayor, Des Kennedy
His letter to the court argued Nour had no formal qualifications, employed staff with basic qualifications but without formal training, and had a social worker who only met residents remotely.
It said the facility permitted residents to undertake supervised leave, which allowed them to travel to Sydney with a staff member to attend legal appointments. Nour told the officer that residents’ movements were recorded on a digital register, but local police said they were not notified if a resident was away.
“The poor level of supervision should not be afforded to somebody who is on conditional Supreme Court bail whilst awaiting [offences] which carry a maximum … sentence of life imprisonment,” he wrote of Khatib, who is fighting the charges, in the letter tendered to the court.
Marko Saric, accused of driving the getaway car after a triple shooting in Greenacre in which one person died, also applied for bail to Mudgee Private. The Crown objected, and the judge was reluctant, too. “It [has] all the appearance of a holiday resort,” the judge said.
Nour said he didn’t hold a certificate in alcohol and other drugs – a qualification that’s standard for staff at most government-funded rehabs – but his pharmacy degree gave him a strong background in understanding the impact of drugs. He said all staff held certificates in mental health care.
Nour said the facility took its responsibilities to law enforcement seriously. He gave this masthead a list of breaches by clients at the facility, which included using amphetamines on site, tampering with drug tests, being intoxicated, and videotaping other patients’ sessions. He said each was expelled and police were informed.
Nour said the facility was misunderstood. “We pride ourselves on offering a level of care and supervision that we believe is unparalleled. We are one of the few rehabilitation facilities that ensures this level of constant monitoring, even during leave,” he said.
He said the visibility of the residents’ ankle monitors was due to the philosophy that the devices were not a “symbol of shame but … an empowering tool that serves as a reminder of the progress made by individuals on their recovery journey. By allowing our residents to openly display their ankle monitors, we aim to help them understand that their past mistakes do not define them.”
Mudgee Private is not, and doesn’t need to be, a member of the peak body, the Network of Alcohol and Other Drugs Agencies. It is in the process of applying for accreditation under the Australian Service Excellence Standards.
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