Trial of three men on criminal organisation and firearms charges to become Australia first Ironside test case

The trial of three men for possessing military-grade firearms will become an Australian-first Ironside test case – with the validity of warrants likely to end up in the High Court.

Three men arrested as part of Operation Ironside and charged with possessing military-grade firearms will become an Australia-first test case for the admissibility of evidence gathered on the encrypted AN0M platform.

In an unusual move, the case was fast tracked from the Adelaide Magistrates Court and the trial will be held in the Supreme Court, rather than the District Court.

The three men, two of whom have had their identities suppressed, appeared in the Supreme Court, where they entered pleas of not guilty to various firearms charges linked to a haul of weapons found in a ute at Newton in January 2020.

Director of Public Prosecutions Martin Hinton QC outlined an “ambitious” 10-month plan to bring the case to trial.

He said the digital evidence against the men was broken down into three overlapping parts – evidence sourced under warrants empowered by two different Commonwealth Acts and data received from the US under a mutual assistance request.

“When each of (the defence counsel) come to consider questions of validity and lawfulness, they will have to attack it in three different ways,” Mr Hinton said.

“To date, the mutual assistance material has not been provided but we understand it is in Canberra and is not far away from being provided to SA Police.”

One of a series of firearms seized by police during a raid later linked to Operation Ironside. Picture: Roy Van Der Vegt.

One of a series of firearms seized by police during a raid later linked to Operation Ironside. Picture: Roy Van Der Vegt.

Mr Hinton said the DPP, with help from SA and Australian Federal Police, would hold information sessions teaching lawyers for the Ironside accused how to access and analyse the hundreds of thousands of AN0M messages.

“So by the end of March my learned friends should be able to pilot their way around the information,” he said.

Mr Hinton said he hoped the pre-trial argument, which is likely to test the validity of the warrants and the admissibility of the messages seized under their power, would begin in August 2022 and last for three weeks. The trial itself would then be held in October.

During a separate bail hearing for an unrelated Ironside accused, a prosecutor said the firearms case would be an Australian first and conceded that “in one way or another this matter will end up in the High Court”.

Michael Abbott QC, for one of the men, said he had reservations about the schedule.

“I have no instructions and, in any event, I wouldn’t agree with these dates,” he said.

“I haven’t seen the brief and I don’t know if these dates are realistic.”

Mr Abbott read a letter from Mr Hinton to the Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court.

“(Mr Hinton) said it was likely this would the first Operation Ironside matter to reach trial, consequently these proceedings will raise a number of questions of law which will affect numerous prosecutions as part of Operation Ironside,” Mr Abbott said.

Mr Hinton resisted the call for a decision on scheduling to be delayed until January.

“Late January would, I fear, put us out of the ballpark of this trial being heard next year,” he said.

Justice Sandi McDonald adjourned the case for a week to allow the defence to seek instructions.

Originally published as Trial of three men on criminal organisation and firearms charges to become Australia first Ironside test case