University students named and shamed for their crimes
They’re supposed to be best of the next generation. But uni students have been before the courts for everything from violence and drugs to animal cruelty in the last year. SEE OUR NAMED AND SHAMED LIST.
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They are supposed to be the brainiest and best of the next generation. But university students are not always the brightest and most law abiding as a visit to Sydney’s courts will reveal.
From possessing child abuse material to stabbing attacks and animal abuse, here are the uni students hauled before the courts over the last year.
HENRY MURPHY - POSSESS CHILD ABUSE MATERIAL
A 22-year-old law student who accessed child abuse material, including images of girls as young as five “naked and at times in sexualised positions”, from an “anonymous forum” online was convicted and sentenced to a two-year community corrections order.
Henry Murphy was arrested when his Randwick home was searched following a New Zealand Police tip-off to authorities in Australia.
The court heard 20 images were found on his iPad, as well as a video which depicted two teenagers having sex.
The student was originally sentenced to at least seven months jail after pleading guilty.
His sentence was overturned on appeal and Murphy was convicted and resentenced to a community correction order for a period of two years with supervision and was ordered to continue counselling.
DANIEL IGOE - REVENGE PORN
A student of the prestigious Australian Defence Force Academy pleaded guilty to filming a woman taking part in a threesome which was shared with almost a dozen students.
Daniel Igoe, a former office cadet, was a final year business and commerce student when he took part in the threesome. He took a 10-second video of his two sex partners and sent it to two people on Snapchat.
The video was then forwarded on and was found to have been seen by 11 students.
Igoe admitted to capturing visual data and non-consensual sharing of an intimate image at a Defence Force Magistrates Court hearing.
He was spared jail but was dismissed from the ADF.
LUKE READ - DRUG POSSESSION
A University of Sydney student and volunteer football referee busted with cannabis and MDMA in the back seat of a parked car told the court he had turned to drugs to tackle stress.
Police came across Luke Read, 21, with four friends at a carpark near a Carlingford reserve just after midnight.
A Holden Astra parked nearby was searched and three MDMA capsule and 2.3g of cannabis, belonging to Read, was found.
The court heard the student turned to drugs following a medical diagnosis and stress attached with lockdown and an advanced computing degree.
Read was sentenced to a two-year community corrections order (good behaviour bond) without conviction having pleaded guilty to the offences.
ALEX LU - ANIMAL CRUELTY
A fresh-faced teenager was sentenced over a disturbing act of cruelty on a 12-week-old kitten.
In September 2020, Alex Lu was convicted and sentenced to a two-year community correction order and ordered to do 150 hours of community service after a heinous act on the kitten named Earthquake.
Court facts stated that after three weeks of owning the ginger kitten, the 19-year-old university student transported the animal’s distorted dead body wrapped in plastic and dumped it in the basement carpark of Princeton Apartments, Sydney.
The dead cat was found inside Lu’s backpack and a search of Lu’s apartment revealed
blood stains across his bathroom with kitten teeth and bone “encrusted” in the stains.
Magistrate Erin Kennedy described Lu’s account of the incident as “extraordinary”, however said it didn’t make sense.
Lu told police the cat’s jaw snapped in two when it jumped to the floor after he had been washing it in the bathroom.
JEREMY HORNIBLOW - SPIT ON POLICE OFFICER
A university student booted out of the A-League grand final spat on a police officer at a time when COVID-19 was active in the community.
Jeremy Horniblow, a former head boy at International Grammar School, had earlier got involved in a scuffle with stadium security the court heard.
The man, at the time of sentence, was studying a bachelor of economics.
The magistrate described Horniblow’s actions as “absolutely ridiculous” and dangerous.
He was sentenced to a two-year community correction order (good behaviour bond) with no conviction recorded.
MARTINS KEYEN - STAB POLICE OFFICER
Macquarie University student Martins Keyen stabbed a police officer in broad daylight at Marsfield with a 20cm knife.
The court heard he suffered from manic psychosis and had thought he was the “God of Mars” and the knife was his “weapon.”
He pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting an officer and one charge of having a knife in a public place.
Keyen avoided a jail sentence and was handed a two-year conditional release order after the court heard he had suffered a “major psychotic episode.”
ASHLEIGH BENNETT - SUPPLYING MDMA
Nursing student and the daughter of a corrections services officer Ashleigh Bennett was caught supplying MDMA at Eppik music festival at Sydney Olympic Park in December 2019.
The Central Coast woman was found with 35 caps of MDMA and $260 cash in her handbag when she was approached by officers at the festival.
Bennett pleaded guilty to one drug supply charge.
She was convicted and sentenced to a two-year community corrections order.
DAVID GARDINER - KEYED WOMAN’S CAR
ADFA student and midshipman David Peter Christian Gardiner, then 23, pleaded guilty to property damage after he keyed a woman’s car after she turned him down.
Gardiner told the court he stayed up into the early hours of the morning last September calling and messaging a woman.
When he didn’t receive any response, he then got up and keyed “c***” on her car.
The court previously heard Gardiner then texted a friend saying: “I keyed that bitch’s car”.
Gardiner faced the Defence Force Magistrates Court in Canberra in April where he was convicted and fined $1963.
BRIGHT ZHAO - DRUG SUPPLY
University student Bright Zhao was arrested after he was found at a drug house in Sydney’s CBD.
Zhao, from Ultimo, was arrested after police seized ice pipes, bongs, MDMA and cocaine in his George Street flat.
Zhao’s mobile seized by police showed the student used Facebook Messenger for drug deals, according to agreed facts.
Zhao was convicted of assisting a drug premises and taking part in the supply of 300g of cannabis leaf and sentenced to a 14-month intensive correction order, with the condition he abstains from illegal drugs.
GABBY KLOPPER - DRUG DRIVING
A young eastern suburbs woman who dreamt of a carer in marketing was convicted after consuming illegal drugs at a music festival.
Gabrielle Klopper, then 21, had taken drugs at a Windsor music festival before driving back to her home in Woollahra.
When she was pulled up by cops for her “erratic driving” the court heard she had large pupils, slurred speech and sluggish movements.
A later expert analysis revealed she was under the influence of MDMA or ecstasy withdrawal.
She was sentenced to 12-month community correction order and was ordered to be off the road during that time.
RAYMOND ALNASHMI - DEALING COCAINE
A young dad and uni student fronted court after being caught with 15 bags of cocaine near Bondi Beach.
The court heard Macquarie University student Raymond Alnashmi was spotted by police picking up two females in a Mazda 6 at Bondi Beach in December 2019.
Alnashmi said “there is cocaine in the coke can in the driver’s side door” after he was asked by cops, according to agreed facts.
Fifteen small bags of cocaine were found inside one coke can and $1700 in cash was found inside another coke can in the vehicle.
Alnashmi who pleaded guilty to supplying a prohibited drug and dealing with proceeds of crime was sentenced to a 12-month conditional release order which expires in August this year.
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