The Snitch: Lawyer haunted by her past sins

Which criminal lawyer’s criminal past has caught up with them? How much do you get if Channel 7 calls you a mass murderer? And who tried to give evidence in a case while driving their car? The Snitch is here.

Less than a decade ago, Alina Yousif was moving up the ranks of Sydney’s uber competitive criminal law fraternity.

That came to an end in June 2020 when she was sentenced to a three year jail term for supplying ice in a bikie-related drug operation while working in southern NSW.

Now the Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of NSW has taken action to have Yousif removed from the roll of lawyers permitted to appear in the court.

The case is next listed to be heard on May 8 when it is listed for a directions hearing on a notice of appeal.

Yousif was not an initial target of the 2017 police operation, but her boyfriend, Bandidos bikie Clinton Roy Parkinson, was.

Alina Yousif.

Police surveillance recorded Yousif counting money inside his Albury apartment before she asked Parkinson “how much do you need to get up?”, her sentencing hearing in the District Court was told.

He responded that he needed $12,000 because “they’re giving me three ounces”, the court heard.

The court was also told the pair met while Parkinson was in jail over the supply of 563gm of ice and gun possession.

When Parkinson got out of jail in 2016, police bugged his apartment on the suspicion that he would go back to his drug supplying ways.

They were right, and it all but ended Yousif’s legal career as well.

MASS PAYOUT

How much money do you get when Channel 7 mistakenly calls you a mass murderer?

People that know more about defamation law than Snitch reckon it’s somewhere in the vicinity of $200,000 to $250,000.

University student Benjamin Cohen is one of the few that knows that true answer after he was wrongly identified on Sunrise as the man responsible for the mass stabbing attack at Bondi Westfield where six people were murdered on April 13.

Benjamin Cohen. Picture: Facebook

Joel Cauchi.

The attack was actually carried out by Joel Cauchi.

Mr Cohen settled on confidential terms with Seven this week.

But we’re told there’s a rough formula to these things.

The first element being that Seven was on a hiding to nothing, so it was going to be a whole lot worse if they took it any further.

It all means that they had to pony up a decent amount of what’s called “Go away” money.

BAD CALL ALL ROUND

Appearing in court remotely via an audio visual hook-up is one of the Covid innovations that has continued in the post pandemic world.

But you’d have to wonder for how long given the efforts of people like Dr Lu Wang.

Dr Wang dialled into a NSW Supreme Court case on a video call using her mobile phone and appeared on screen – all while driving a car.

The doctor was the plaintiff and a cross defendant in a civil case being heard before the Supreme Court.

In December, Dr Wang requested permission to appear via AVL, instead of in person.

She wrote to Justice Michael Meek: “I believe that joining the court proceedings through a video conference would not only alleviate the physical strain on my health but also ensure my active and undivided participation in the case.”

It is unlikely that Justice Meek could have predicted that she would do so while driving a car.

Needless to say, he told the court in January that he was not pleased.

“ When I first entered the Court Dr Wang was visible on the AVL connection but in the process of driving a car,” Justice Meek told the court.

“ It was evident that she had joined by a mobile phone.

“She had not prior to my coming into court indicated to my staff that she was in some way delayed and would require time to arrive at a destination where she could access AVL while not in transit.

“She had not requested even a brief opportunity for her to pull the car over and proceed while sitting in the (parked) car.”

Unsurprisingly, the judge told Dr Wang to call back once she had reached a location where it was safe to make a video call.

Which she did some 30 minutes later.

Justice Meeks took the doctor to task in his January judgment.

“Lest there be any doubt about it, anyone given permission to appear by AVL should not do so in a manner or environment in which they might be distracted or unable to give their undivided attention properly and safely to the proceedings before the Court,” he wrote.

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