Sydney solicitor’s legal win in stoush over laptop, phone after being shot

A lawyer who was shot outside his home has won a court fight to have his laptop and phone given back to him so he can run his practice.

A prominent Sydney lawyer who was shot in a brazen attack outside his home will have his phone and laptop given back to him so he can run his business, a Supreme Court judge has ordered.

Criminal lawyer Mahmoud Abbas was shot on July 26 in what police believe was a targeted attack outside his Greenacre home.

Mr Abbas, who isn’t accused of any wrongdoing, was about to get into his car when he was shot, suffering injuries to his torso and right leg, with witnesses reporting hearing three shots.

The lawyer’s work laptop and electronic devices were seized by police during the investigation, prompting him to apply to the NSW Supreme Court to have them returned to him.

Justice Ian Harrison on Monday ordered for the seized devices to be returned to Mr Abbas by 4pm on Wednesday.

“Mr Abbas is not under investigation with respect to the shooting or at all,” Justice Harrison said in his written judgment.

“He is not charged with, nor is he suspected of having been involved in, the commission of any offence. However, the police maintain that it is possible that the electronic devices that they have seized will contain information that could be relevant to their investigation of the crime committed against Mr Abbas.”

Sydney lawyer Mahmoud Abbas was shot outside his Greenacre home. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

Justice Harrison said the single “and difficult” point of contention is whether there is doubt all the information on the seized devices had been retrieved by police.

He accepted the “seized data” would potentially be required as evidence at a future trial, but did not accept the devices themselves are required.

“Without limiting the generality of the police concerns, they contend that as Mr Abbas is a solicitor with a significant practice in criminal law, material relating to his clients may yield information of assistance to them in their investigation,” he said.

The judge found that a deadline of Wednesday at 4pm will give police enough time to extract all the data off the devices.

The proceedings have been listed for 10am Wednesday.

“The question of costs, if not agreed, can be argued at that time,” he told the court.

It comes after a hearing before Justice Harrison last week when Mr Abbas’s lawyer, Ertunc Ozen SC, argued that his client needed his phone and laptop back to run his law firm.

The court was told Mr Abbas kept “electronic records and file notes” from his work with clients on his laptop and couldn’t run his practice without it.

“The information relevant to the efficient conduct of those defences and in procedural matters is contained on a laptop, the contacts are contained on Mr Abbas’ phone and the communications with clients are contained on both,” Mr Ozen told the court.

Mr Abbas’s car covered in fingerprint dust and a bullet hole above his front door in Greenacre. Picture: Supplied

But police said they needed to keep the physical devices and argued that Mr Abbas could have run his business with the benefit of a download off the phone and laptop.

Mr Ozen said it took more than an hour to open a file each time, which was an “impossible proposition”.

He argued that police had “specialist teams”, resources and officers who would be able to deal with the slow files on a much easier basis than Mr Abbas.

Mr Ozen said police seemed to have “found relevant information” off the devices already and reminded the court that his client was not alleged to be involved in any wrongdoing.

“This is a solicitor who has been shot out the front of his home … what do police think is being hidden here?” he said.

Nicholas Regener, representing the police commissioner, told the court the review of the devices had not been completed and material on them was “highly relevant to an ongoing investigation”.

Mr Regener suggested Mr Abbas buy a new phone and laptop and transfer all the data onto the new devices.

During the hearing, Justice Ian Harrison asked “what the problem” would be with simply transferring the material onto new devices.

“If you had to die in a ditch because you don’t get the phone back, what’s the point?” the judge asked.

Mr Ozen said his client had the right to his own property.

Mr Abbas is expected to make a full recovery after undergoing surgery after he was rushed to hospital by paramedics last Wednesday.

After being shot, Mr Abbas was able to run back into his home and call emergency services.

He was treated at the scene by NSW Ambulance paramedics before being taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition.

He is well known in the legal community, having represented a number of prominent people, including former Auburn deputy mayor Salim Mehajer and ex-NRL player Jamil Hopoate.