Judge made a mistake dismissing Bassam Hamzy sentence, court told
A judge made a mistake when he quashed a sentence imposed on notorious killer Bassam Hamzy over bashing a prison guard at Goulburn Supermax, a court has heard.
NSW
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A judge made a mistake when he quashed a sentence imposed on notorious killer Bassam Hamzy over bashing a prison guard at Goulburn Supermax, a court has heard.
The Director of Public Prosecutions is seeking a judicial review of the decision by District Court Acting Judge Geoffrey Graham, who dismissed the 20-month sentence given to Hamzy over the 2017 assault because he had already been punished internally in jail.
The Court of Appeal was told on Thursday that after the incident prison authorities placed Hamzy, who is not eligible for parole until 2042, on a four-week “behavioural management plan” where several of his privileges were denied including a reduction in exercise time.
Police also charged Hamzy over the incident and he was sentenced to an extra 20 months jail in Goulburn Local Court in July last year.
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But Hamzy appealed this sentence in the District Court and Acting Judge Graham found in his favour last February, ordering his conviction be set aside and a permanent stay of proceedings.
In court on Thursday, Crown Advocate Dr David Kell SC said Acting Judge Graham accepted Hamzy’s argument that “the charge was oppressive in circumstances where action had already been taken against him within the correctional centre … by reducing privileges under the behavioural management plan”.
However, Mr Kell said it was not relevant Hamzy had been punished internally before being sentenced and likened it to someone losing their driver’s licence before facing the courts.
“We say that the Acting Judge mistakenly sought to take into account circumstances that were unrelated to the court … in considering and giving primacy to the behavioural management plan,” he said.
“His honour is permanently staying criminal proceedings … by way of action taken not by the prosecutor, not by the crown, but by the Commissioner of Corrective Services administratively, which resulted in four weeks reduction of privileges”.
Hamzy, who regards himself as a bush lawyer, took notes and spoke to his legal team several times during the hearing while being watched by six security guards.
Defence barrister Troy Anderson told the court that Hamzy had his liberties restricted in jail after the assault and that Acting Judge Graham had not made an error.
“Prior to (a court attendance notice) being filed in the Goulburn Local Court, the behavioural management plan was changed and it was changed in a way that, in my respectful submission, (was) a punishment,” he said.
“Perhaps the most significant (penalty) is the exercise out of the cell, where the amount of time (Hamzy had) was reduced from two hours to one hour a day”.
The case was adjourned until a later date.