Ex-Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale appeals extortion conviction

Jailed former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale has appealed to overturn his conviction for extorting the former lover of a Chinese escort he had befriended.

Jailed former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale has appealed to overturn his conviction. Picture: AAP

Jailed former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale has appealed to overturn his conviction for extorting the former lover of a Chinese escort he had befriended.

The popular politician, who was dubbed Mr Ipswich for his stranglehold on the mayoralty since the early 2000s, was sentenced­ in July to two years’ jail after a District Court jury convicte­d him of the extortion charge.

Pisasale’s co-accused in the extortion plot, solicitor Cameron McKenzie and Chinese escort Yutian Li, also appealed against their convictions on Thursday.

The plot was uncovered by Crime and Corruption Commission detectives who had bugged Pisasale’s phone calls as part of an unrelated corruption investigation. Li was jailed for 15 months, suspended after seven, while McKenzie was sentenced to 18 months’ jail, suspended after nine.

Pisasale, 67, posed as a private investigator in a bid to pressure Li’s former lover, a Sydney taxi driver, to reveal that he was marrie­d to another woman.

Through McKenzie, they later tried to extort money out of the taxi driver to cover the fake privat­e investigator fees.

During the trial, the court heard the real reason Pisasale wanted the money from the taxi driver was to help Li cover costs she had incurred, including a flight from China, when pursuing the relationship.

In the Court of Appeal in Brisbane­ on Thursday, Pisasale’s barrister, Tony Glynn, argued that the trial judge may have erred when giving instructions to the jury and unfairly undermined its faith in Pisasale’s trial barrister, Lincoln Crowley.

“To have a judge tell a jury that what you’ve said is wrong is devastat­ing for any counsel and any client,” Mr Glynn said.

McKenzie’s barrister, Katarina Prskalo, argued that her client “may not be a good lawyer, but that does not make him an extortionist”.

She said a letter of demand McKenzie wrote to the taxi driver asking for $10,000 was not out of the ordinary for a lawyer and was done after receiving instructions from Pisasale.