The Snitch: Crown frown over classless society at Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions

Why is the class divide in the ODPP coming to an end? Why is the clock ticking for Wendell Sailor in his son’s legal fees case? And what can we learn from Burwood Local Court? The Snitch is here.

As a reflection of these modern times, we’re hearing the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is attempting to move towards something of an egalitarian society.

The state’s legal office is getting set to drag the Chesterfields from its Liverpool St headquarters to some new digs soon.

And we’re told DPP Sally Dowling SC is considering a plan for the barristers and solicitors to work in an integrated office where they’re sitting next to each other rather than the status quo where they’re on separate floors.

Barristers and solicitors working together, harmoniously, side-by-side, in the same office space. Beautiful, isn’t it?

But we’re told those bourgeois barristers aren’t happy about the prospect of being thrown among the hoi polloi. Currently the solicitors work on three floors of the DPP office.

Above them is the Crown floor and then above that is the Directors Chambers, where Ms Dowling’s office is located.

Sally Dowling is considering a plan for the barristers and solicitors to work in an integrated office. .

The new plan is said to be that barristers and solicitors and other staff would work together in sections that perform certain functions or work on certain types of cases.

One barrister pointed out to us that it does not conform to the principles of the independence of the Bar.

We won’t give you chapter and verse of the lengthy principles underpinning the idea.

But it’s basically that barristers must remain independent from any influence to best serve the interests of justice. Hence, they’ve had their own floor for a while now.

And there are plenty of examples demonstrating how much the Bar cares about its independence.

Just ask Mark Tedeschi KC.

In 2019, while he was the state’s senior Crown Prosecutor, Mr Tedeschi sent a fire-up email to the troops imploring them to toughen up after a number of poor results in court cases.

Mr Tedeschi was sent a stern email by then Bar Association president Tim Game SC saying the missive was impinging on the independence of the Bar.

HELLO SAILOR

The clock is now ticking for retired NRL legend Wendell Sailor and his son, Brisbane Broncos rising star Tristan Sailor, for their next move in their court battle over legal fees.

The pair were listed to face the Sydney District Court this week where they are being sued by Sydney law firm Madison Marcus over an alleged unpaid bill from Tristan’s trial, where a jury found him not guilty of rape.

On Tuesday, the matter had been listed for a pre-trial conference, which was dealt with online.

We weren’t privy to the legal parry and thrust. But the end result was that Wendall and Tristan were given 28 days to file their defence statements with the court.

Tristan Sailor and his father, Wendall, were given 28 days to file their defence statement with the court Picture: John Gass

So, in layman‘s terms, they have a month to file their version of events that explains why Marcus Madison’s allegations against them should be dismissed.

The firm’s managing director Rami Qutami represented Tristan in his District Court trial where he was found not guilty in March 2022 of raping a woman he met on a dating app.

The trial ran for two weeks, so it’s a safe bet the legal fees ran into the six figures.

But Madison Marcus launched legal action in the Sydney District Court this month claiming the Sailors never settled their tab.

According to court records, the firm is suing Tristan, Wendall and his wife Tara.

Court records show that Wendall was served with the legal documents at North Sydney while Tristan was served outside a Broncos training facility.

It is unclear if Tara has been served with the documents.

LESSONS FROM BURWOOD

Several lessons were learnt at Burwood Local Court in the case of Barakat Ayad.

The most important was that alleged victims need to let the police do the detective work.

Ayad was charged over an alleged assault in a Regents Park mechanics office in 2021 where two men were punched and a few harsh words thrown about.

The alleged victims in the case took to Facebook after the incident and found the profile of a person they thought was one of the perpetrators. It wasn’t – they had the wrong guy. They then went into that person’s friends list and discovered the profile of a person they thought was the other perpetrator. It was the wrong guy again.

Ayad’s lawyer Paul McGirr told the court his client was one of the wrongly identified men and that he was then put in a police identification line up five months later.

Lo and behold, he was picked out as one of the perpetrators and charged.

Police dropped the charges this week after it was also pointed out that Mr Ayad had been on a construction site when the alleged offence occurred.

The state was ordered to pay Mr Ayad’s legal costs.

“Common sense prevailed,” Mr McGirr said outside of court.

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