 R v MEZZADRI: Our client was visited by Police on his premises following a report of a domestic dispute. In response to Police requesting of there were firearms on the premises, our client produced eight weapons, including a rifle with the serial number erased.
Offences: 1 x unauthorized possession of firearms in aggravated circumstances (Max 15 years imprisonment); Court: Court of Criminal Appeal, New South Wales Prior Sentence Outcome: Suspended sentence on 1 year and 10 months. Appeal Outcome: The Crown appealed the prior sentence as too light - Appeal was dismissed. Overview: Our client was visited by Police on his premises following a report of a domestic dispute. In response to Police requesting of there were firearms on the premises, our client produced eight weapons, including a rifle with the serial number erased. Four of the firearms were prohibited, none of them were registered, and our client was unlicensed. Our client had come into possession of the firearms in several ways: some passed down by his father, others he had found in very bad condition. Three of the eight firearms were registered by our client in NT, and our client believed that all the weapons were unserviceable. Our client entered a plea of guilty at the earliest opportunity. Several character references were tendered on his behalf which detailed his good character, strong employment history, and his high unlikeliness to re-offend. At trial, despite police ballistics experts stating the weapons were in working order, we were able to successfully argue that this was not the case when the weapons were seized, which was accepted by the judge. This offence carried a maximum penalty of imprisonment for 20 years and a standard non-parole period of 10 years. Our client was sentenced to a suspended sentence of 1 year and 10 months – a significantly low penalty due to the unique circumstances of the case. On appeal, the Crown argued against this sentencing order, in particular the suspension of the sentence, claiming it was too lenient and was not serious enough given the nature of the offence. After submissions were made, we successfully defended our client’s ordered sentence and readily believe that it is more than adequate, given the circumstances of the offence. This matter highlights two very important points, particularly understanding the nuances of possessing firearms under the law, and the general obligations on persons not to possess restricted items. This general obligation is particularly important as our client was in possession of 4 restricted items. This invites a greater discussion of firearms and the law in Australia and what to consider when understanding Australia’s firearms and weapon laws. This is the summary of an actual case. Certain details have been omitted to protect the privacy of our client. We select and summarize cases which are informative and provide no guarantee that similar results are achievable in all cases. This summary does not constitute as legal advice and you should obtain legal advice specific to your matter and circumstances. If you are facing charges similar to the ones above, contact us for a free consultation.
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 R v M: Our client ran an online adult pornography business that involved downloading large volumes of pornographic material and then sorting through it to extract relevant material...
Offences: 1 x Using a carriage service to make available child pornography material (Max 15 years imprisonment); 1 x Possessing child exploitation material (Max 14 years imprisonment). Court: District Court in Brisbane Sentence Outcome: Released on own recognizance of good behaviour for 2 years, and no conviction recorded. Overview: The circumstances of this case are highly unusual and unique, making for a notable case and a legal precedent. Our client ran an online adult pornography business that involved downloading large volumes of pornographic material and then sorting through it to extract relevant material - this meant that some child exploitation or pornography material (CEM/CPM) was incidentally downloaded. Per protocol to protect children, any CEM/CMP identified was to be separated, kept isolated from external access, and then deleted. When receiving downloads of large amounts of pornography, our client made two unfortunate mistakes:
Our client engaged our office to assist him, where we argued that our client incidentally possessed CEM/CPM as part of the collection process, and inadvertently made it available, but with no criminal intent. We urged the Court to consider our client’s unblemished record with regards to CEM/CPM management and his efforts to safely isolate and remove the material. The fact that he only viewed a portion of the material in question also demonstrating he had no interest in it and was only negligently in possession. We were also able to argue that the Court should consider our client’s early plea of guilty, significant personal circumstances that occurred at the time of the offending, including the death and serious illness of loved ones, and psychological reports. The Court accepted our submissions and sentenced our client to be released on recognizance without sureties on the condition that he keeps the peace and is of good behaviour for two years for both offences and that no conviction be recorded for either offence. A forfeiture order was made against our client for the hard drives on which the CEM/CPM material was found, which we opposed. Usually, the hard drives would be forfeited and all records, non-offending or not, would be turned over; however, we were able to successfully argue that our client be able to download and copy any non-offending business or personal records under police supervision. This is the summary of an actual case. Certain details have been omitted to protect the privacy of our client. We select and summarize cases which are informative and provide no guarantee that similar results are achievable in all cases. This summary does not constitute as legal advice and you should obtain legal advice specific to your matter and circumstances. If you are facing charges similar to the ones above, contact us for a free consultation. |
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