Brady Ward, Darren Ward in Coffs Harbour court on commercial fishing charges
A father and son face a raft of commercial fishing charges relating to alleged offences committed over many months. See what happened when the cases hit Coffs Harbour Local Court.
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The lawyer for two Sunshine Coast men noted his clients were “at sea” when a swag of commercial fishing charges against them were mentioned in Coffs Harbour Local Court.
Darren Ross Ward, 58, and his son Brady Darren Ward, 34, each face a long line of charges over offences allegedly committed over a period of many months.
Brady Ward, of Palmview, faces 17 charges including one count of abuse a fisheries officer and charges including commercial fisher fail to make real time report, not make/deliver to purchaser record of fish sale and fishing employer fail to make record as prescribed.
His first alleged offence occurred in July 2021, and the last was in December 2022.
Darren Ward, of Glenview, faces 13 charges including fishing employer fail to make record as prescribed, commercial fisher fail to make real time report and fail to comply with requirement to produce record etc.
His first alleged offence occurred in August 2021, and the last was in December 2022.
The Department of Regional NSW is prosecuting the case which was mentioned at Coffs Harbour Local Court on Wednesday.
The defence lawyer for the Wards told the court the case was “complicated” due to the large number of alleged offences.
Mr Rose said the defence had significant issues with the charges and the alleged facts, and he planned to make representations to the prosecution.
No pleas were entered and the Wards were not present in the courtroom.
“Both (are) residents of Queensland and they’re both at sea at the moment,” Mr Rose said.
Magistrate Julia Virgo adjourned the case to October 25, and formally excused the Wards from appearing on that date.
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