Police attempt to ‘silence’ and charge Youtuber FriendlyJordies with contempt derailed in court

Police prosecutors wanted to “silence” FriendlyJordies for his videos criticising them - but the attempt was derailed in court on Wednesday.

A police attempt to “silence” FriendlyJordies and charge the YouTuber with contempt of court has faltered after a magistrate called their attempts to pull down his videos “an ambush”.

But police will have a second chance after they argued the Labor firebrand was at risk of influencing witnesses.

FriendlyJordies, real name Jordan Shanks, has railed against NSW Police in videos since his producer was arrested by the Fixated Persons Unit inside the Counter Terror command.

Producer Kristo Langker was charged with stalking former deputy premier John Barilaro and denies the charge.

NSW Police, this week, asked the Local Court to order Mr Shanks to pull down a video in which he heavily criticised officers who arrested Langker.

But 15 hours before the matter was due in court Mr Shanks uploaded a second video, again criticising police for trying to silence him.

Kristo Langker at an earlier court hearing. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Police prosecutor Amin Assaad said Mr Shanks was “the gift that keeps on giving” and he was interfering with justice by spouting “100 per cent incorrect” claims to his 500,000 followers.

Mr Assaad wanted the court to order FriendlyJordies to delete the two videos and be restrained from making comments that criticised the “brief of evidence” that makes up their case.

“The concern of the police is that he’s commenting about the strength of the brief and we want to silence him in relation to brief,” he told the court.

But Mr Shanks and Mr Langker’s legal teams denounced the police gag order as an attempt to stop criticism.

“It’s the police wanting to shut down criticism of the police, it’s tantamount to an abuse of process,” Mr Shanks’ barrister Philip Strickland SC told the court on Wednesday.

The police order, in its current form, may prevent all other media covering much of the core of the case which will likely focus on issues of freedom of speech, the role of the counter-terror unit and social media.

But Magistrate Jacqueline Milledge called the police application “defective” noting prosecutors had disobeyed a court order to send all the required documents to Mr Shanks.

Kristo Langker arrives at court ahead of the police take-down application on Wednesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Police also want Mr Shanks charged with contempt of court for his videos but their application had not spelled out their claims he was threatening the administration of justice.

“It is a really big deal to face contempt proceedings - for Mr Shanks to know why something is on he can’t be ambushed,” Magistrate Milledge said.

“There has to be procedural fairness.”

The magistrate read through a transcript of FriendlyJordies latest video concluding it was “diatribe” and “gibberish” from a man who clearly didn’t understand much of the complex legal issues.

But, she said, there was no sign of contempt.

Police argued the hundreds of thousands of views in the two videos were making Mr Shanks money.

“You’re adding to his purse,” the magistrate said.

“(Police and court officials) have to be a little more resilient than a normal person. A bruising like this should be water off a duck’s back,” she said.

“If it’s not, sue him.”

She concluded the courts shouldn’t be stifling people despite how “idiotic” some might find FriendlyJordies’ views.

The matter will return to court next week after a magistrate granted police a second chance at their court order. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Mr Assaad argued gagging Mr Shanks was necessary to prevent him influencing witnesses using his online influence.

He said prosecutors feared witnesses would be swayed against giving evidence or concluding Langker was innocent.

The magistrate said the court would have a real case of contempt on its hands if a witness refused to give evidence.

“If they’re so fragile they can be influenced by this kind of diatribe they’re deserving of the proper consequences that flow,” she said.

The YouTuber’s lawyers called for the application to be thrown out entirely and Magistrate Milledge agreed it was flawed.

Jordan Shanks, known as FriendlyJordies (right) and producer Kristo Langker (left) outside Downing Centre Court on Wednesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

But she instead gave police another week to get the application together and properly spell out their allegations.

Halfway through the hearing the magistrate kicked out who she believed was a “tracksuited YouTuber” from the court’s video link system.

A man had appeared, sitting in a car, to watch the proceedings.

But the court was informed it was actually a barrister interested in the case on his way for a Covid test and the magistrate called him back to apologise.

“I have got nothing against YouTube, I think it’s a fascinating channel,” she assured the barrister.

Mr Shanks and Mr Langker, outside court, posed with a self-styled freedom protester who tried to interview the Youtuber in the rain.

The case will return next week.