NSW Coronavirus: Barrister urges court for leniency for COVID-19-affected prisoners
A barrister representing an alleged Assyrian crime gang associate found guilty for his role in the stabbing of a 14-year-old boy has urged the court to consider the impact of COVID-19.
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A barrister representing an alleged Assyrian crime gang associate found guilty by a jury for his role in the stabbing of a 14-year-old boy has urged the court to consider the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on prisoners.
In the sentence hearing of Oliver Merza, 29, his barrister urged Judge Andrew Colefax to take into account how his client’s potential prison sentence would be more “onerous” and harsh in these rapidly-changing times.
Merza, of Cabramatta, was found guilty in September last year of stabbing a 14-year-old boy near Fairfield following a “beef” with one of his younger protégés at a McDonald’s restaurant days earlier.
Merza, an unknown man and Martin Hana, who previously pleaded guilty to his role in the violence in 2016, encountered the victim near a train station before driving to a nearby unit block and knifing him.
The 29-year-old’s barrister asked the court to consider the state of uncertainty for NSW’s prisoners, noting how in the early 2000s tuberculosis spread in Europe’s jails at a rate 82 times higher than what the community experienced.
“The hardship to be suffered by a prisoner in a corrective setting is one which will be exaggerated if this (COVID-19 pandemic) arises as one would expect … if (the disease) takes hold in custodial settings in this state,” he said.
“The court should consider the increased hardship in custody.”
Mr Colefax accepted jail would be more harsh in these COVID-19 times, saying “I think this is a practical, commonsense way of looking at it”.
Social visits to jails across NSW has also been suspended as a result of the pandemic.
The crown prosecutor said prison sentences wouldn’t be more onerous, as he understood moves were being made to allow ‘video conferences’ take place between prisoners and their families during the pandemic.
Merza’s sentence will be handed down on May 15 at Campbelltown District Court.