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Legal Herald - THE LAW AND YOU

Legal Herald - July 2007

BLIND JUSTICE, NO WAY!!!!

July 19th 2007 00:25
The quashing of the criminal conviction against famous Australian celebrity Matthew Newton and son of legendary entertainer Bert Newton is a stark reminder that justice is not blind and that indeed the rich and famous receive lighter sentences or convictions. When walking inside a court room we want to believe that there will be no prejudices held against us such as race, gender, socio-economic status, but it can be argued that indeed justice does “peek”. Unfortunately it sometimes depends on who you are more than on what you do! The actual symbolism of justice is represented by a blind-folded woman holding a set of scales and is still used today. The ancient Greeks referred to the goddess as “Themis” while the Romans called her “Justitia” and she was usually portrayed as evenly balancing both scales and a sword and wearing a blindfold. Hence the blindfold symbolises that differences will not be looked at in a court room, and that we will all be dealt with equally. However, in numerous criminal matters last week in Country NSW similar domestic violence matters received criminal convictions. Many of the convicted do not have the funds to appeal matters to a higher court so it is difficult to have convictions quashed. According to newspaper reports the reason that Matthew Newton was able to “get off” without a record is due to his celebrity status and his counsel argued in court that this would have a devastating affect on his ability to make a living.
courtesy; www.morguefile.com



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photo by Xandert courtesy; www.morguefile.com
The arrest this week of Gold Coast Doctors Mohammed Haneef 27, and Dr Mohamed Asif Ali 26 in relation to the failed bombing attacks in London and Glasgow Airport has once again raised issues over the Anti-terrorism laws in Australia and whether or not they are too harsh. At this moment Dr Mohammed Haneef is still in custody while Dr Ali was released by the Australian Federal Police and simply told to go about his business “as usual”. But can you simply go back to the community after you have been accused of terrorism? For example it is unclear if Dr Ali can return to work. Similarly last year an Art teacher was arrested for having explosives piled up in his house which led to police sweeping in and arresting the teacher for fear that he was “planning an attack”. Many claim that the Anti terrorism laws implemented in an effort to safe guard Australia against terrorism is simply too “heavy handed” and that we should not forget the writ of Habeus Corpus. The writ of Habeas Corpus is a petition filed with a court by an imprisoned person who objects to his own imprisonment. In Brown v. Vasquez the court observed that the Supreme Court recognised the fact that the writ of habeas corpus is the fundamental instrument for safeguarding individual freedom against arbitrary and lawless state action. Lets hope that if the Doctors are not involved in the attacks that they may go back to their lives........ but it seems very unlikely.
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I AM GUILTY SAYS BUILDER

July 6th 2007 03:56
courtesy: www.freefoto.com
A licensed builder who destroyed part of a Heritage Listed house in Sydney's plush suburb of Wahroonga was ordered to pay fourteen thousand dollars by the NSW Land and Environment Court in Sydney. The builder Joe Vinci pleaded guilty to the destruction of the inside wall of the heritage listed house. Ironically it was Vinci's first job since starting his own building business and the prosecutor for Ku-ring-gai Council Mr Howard argued that Vinci should pay the maximum amount imposed for his breach of section 125 [76A] of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. Vinci's counsel Mr Clay argued that although his client had committed a grave error when destroying the wall no major "environmental harm" had occurred during the destruction. Clay also asked Justice Pain to take numerous other factors into consideration when deciding the fine to impose such as the fact that Vinci would restore the wall and also that this was his first offence.
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