Jinan Disho: Rapist’s plea hearing adjourned after interpreter cancels

A Bell Park man found guilty of raping and assaulting a woman will have a longer wait to learn his fate after the 11th hour cancellation of an interpreter.

Jinan Disho leaving court during the trial. Picture: Mark Wilson

A pre-sentence hearing for a Bell Park man found guilty of rape has been delayed, after the 11th hour cancellation of an interpreter.

Jinan Disho, 42, appeared in the County Court at Melbourne via videolink on Friday for a plea hearing.

In May, Disho was found guilty by a jury of three counts of rape and three counts of assault against a woman, as well as a single count of making threats to kill, following a trial in Geelong.

The charges stemmed from incidents in 2018.

Disho was born and raised in Iraq but fled the country in 2015 when Islamic State (ISIS) took control of parts of the country.

Disho was assisted by interpreters throughout the trial, first in Assyrian – his native language – and then Arabic, after the first interpreter walked off the job.

However, an interpreter was unable to be secured for the plea hearing.

On Friday, Crown prosecutor Yildana Hardjadibrata told the court an Assyrian interpreter had been booked but cancelled late Thursday afternoon.

Judge Georgiou told Mr Hardjadibrata it was “just not good enough” and “totally unacceptable”.

“What a waste of a day,” Judge Georgiou said.

Mr Hardjadibrata said his instructing solicitor was making inquiries into why the cancellation had occurred.

Disho’s lawyer, barrister Jonathan Barreiro, said the plea had been “beset by a number of issues” and he would have asked for it to be adjourned in any case.

He told the court the defence was yet to be provided a psychological report, which they had been chasing.

Mr Barreiro said he was “concerned my client has no idea what we’re talking about right now”.

Mr Hardjadibrata said in the circumstances, the prosecution did not oppose an adjournment and assured the court an interpreter would be present at the next date.

“The next time, we’ll get an Arabic interpreter,” he said.

“There are a number of Arabic interpreters … Assyrian interpreters are more rare.”

Judge Georgiou said “regrettably” the matter must be adjourned.

Disho will return to court on November 21.

Originally published as Jinan Disho: Rapist’s plea hearing adjourned after interpreter cancels