The Snitch: Tense court exchange between Sydney lawyer and magistrate
After a terse appearance in court, a Sydney lawyer has vowed he will make an application for a case to be heard by a different judicial officer if he appears before him again.
Police & Courts
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A leading criminal lawyer has vowed to ask the court not to have future cases heard by one Sydney magistrate after a heated exchange.
Solicitor Mohammad Chahine said the next time he has a matter in front of Magistrate Ross Hudson, he will be making an application for the case to be heard by a different judicial officer.
This comes after a terse exchange between the pair in Waverley Local Court where Hudson asked Chahine if the solicitor was misleading his court before refusing bail for his client, Mohamed Alameddine, on May 18.
One week later, Chahine made a second bail application for his client in the NSW Supreme Court where Justice Natalie Adams granted bail to Alameddine.
The point of tension in Waverley Local Court related to the adjournment date and the bonafides of the person offering to put up the bail money.
When Chahine told the court he was not available to appear in the court on Thursday or Friday because he was interstate Hudson asked him if he was misleading the court – a highly embarrassing question for a lawyer to be asked in a courtroom packed with industry peers.
Hudson also raised questions about whether he should accept Chahine’s version given to the court about the legitimacy of the person offering to lodge $50,000 to secure Alameddine’s bail.
On Saturday, Chahine said: “Magistrate Hudson was more concerned about my credibility than the merits of the bail application. I was there to assist the court by making the process run efficiently by narrowing the issues. However the magistrate appeared to be offended by my efforts to assist the court and was critical of the approach taken by the parties.”
Hudson was called for comment on Saturday.
Alameddine has been charged with domestic violence offences including threatening his wife and also his girlfriend. The tone got a bit more lighthearted in the Supreme Court where Justice Adams mused: “Does he have a job or is he a full-time criminal?”
RISING UP
Successful applicants in promotion rounds are always the worst kept secrets in the cops.
Snitch hears Detective Superintendent Stacey Maloney has been tapped on the shoulder to rise up the ranks after applying for one of seven Assistant Commission vacancies.
After a hot minute at the helm of the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad, where she was unapologetically outspoken on issues like consent law reform and dating app accountability, Maloney is tipped to move into the Communications command.
It is understood bush copper Peter McKenna, Sydney city boss (and one time State of Origin blues side assistant manager) Gavin Wood, Lake Illawarra police boss Dean Smith, Steve Hegarty, Tony Cooke and Brett Greentree are also in the mix. Official decisions will be made public next month.
TECHNOLOGY IN COURTS
It has long been known that technology and courts don’t mix.
And that was certainly the case during the civil case between NRL star Michael Jennings and his ex-wife Kirra Wilden this week.
It emerged on Thursday that Jennings’ legal team would need to provide thousands of pages of text messages and other evidence to Ms Wilden’s team.
The only problem was how to get them off Jennings’ phone so the case could continue on Friday.
Judge David Wilson SC immediately owned up to not being “tech savvy” and looked for the youngest people in the courtroom to help out: the court officer and a law student assisting one of the barristers (both appeared to be aged in their 20s).
The assumption was they would know how to install software on one of the court’s laptops and then — by virtue of their youth — know how to use it.
It didn’t go according to plan.
The laptop used for the first was not compatible with the internet. A second attempt was blocked by a firewall. A third attempt on another laptop failed for lack of memory.
Judge Wilson gave Mr Jennings’ lawyers until Monday to figure it out.
GOT A SNITCH? Contact ava.benny-morrison@news.com.au or brenden.hills@news.com.au
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