School Teacher and former Wests Tigers player Keith Eshman found Not Guilty after two-and-a-half-year long saga

After two trials and two and a half years, school teacher and former Wests Tigers player Keith Eshman has been completely acquitted of allegations of sexual offending against a child whilst he was her teacher at an Illawarra school.

He was initially tried before Judge Sharon Harris in June 2024 where he was acquitted of four charges but that jury was unable to reach verdicts in relation to one count of sexual touching. The Crown prosecutors elected to submit Mr Eshman for retrial on that count.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge and the trial commenced on 19 May 2025, with Mr Matthew Barnes barrister of Sir Owen Dixon Chambers appearing for Mr Eshman, instructed by Robert Candelori of McGirr & Associates.

A jury of 12 returned their verdict on Friday,23 May 2025 having spent just over an hour deliberating.

The jury heard evidence over four days from the young female complainant, her parents, teachers, and other staff at the school, and Mr Eshman. The court heard the girl allegedly told her parents that Mr Eshman had made her touch his "private part".

There was also evidence about the girl having touched her own genital area at home and at school, and her affectionate behaviour towards Mr Eshman. The jury heard that Mr Eshman had conversations with colleagues about the girl being "clingy" with him and touching herself. One teacher stated that Mr Eshman had always tried to distract the complainant from touching herself and appeared visibly uncomfortable when disclosing the behaviour.

Mr Eshman gave evidence that he was concerned by the girl’s behaviour and called her mother, having asked for support from colleagues. He also said the searches and web pages found on his digital devices were made in response to a comment a colleague made that the child could be touching herself because something was going on at home.

In his closing address on Thursday, defence barrister Matthew Barnes urged the jury to use "common sense" when assessing Eshman's behaviour.

Mr Barnes said the websites Eshman searched were "clearly" for "educational purposes" and suggested the jury might think the complainant was "refusing to be entirely upfront" with police.

Truck driver Diaz Ranasinghe found 'not guilty' of dangerous driving occasioning death

Victorian man, Diaz Ranasinghe, was today found not guilty of dangerous driving occasioning death in a judge alone trial before Acting Judge James Bennett at Albury District Court.

Mr Ranasinghe was charged after his truck loaded with kerosene collided with Robert Arnold who was riding a bicycle along Thyra Road, Moama, on the NSW-Victoria border on 8 December 2021. Mr Arnold tragically passed away in hospital.

The defence case was presented by David Price barrister instructed by Robert Candelori of McGirr & Associates. The essence of the defence case was that Mr Ranasinghe was faced with the invidious circumstance of a bicycle ahead, and a car from behind which the accused inferred was intending to overtake him. His Honour found, drawing on his own experience as a driver, that “the flashing of headlights of a vehicle coming from behind indicates the intention of the driver to overtake rather than an indication that they are not intending to do so.”

His Honour continued, finding “presented with this, the accused could not move to the right to safely pass the bicycle, but remained to the left on the correct side of the road anticipating that the vehicle coming from behind would overtake. Focussed as he was on the vehicle behind and anticipating that it would pass before he was more proximate to the bicycle when he might move to the right, slowing the truck in the process, he miscalculated time and distance and came upon the bicycle.

“In these circumstances the accused concedes that he was negligent in the choice he made to anticipate the passing of the vehicle coming from behind without keeping a proper lookout for the bicycle ahead so that he might manage the truck to avoid the collision which unfortunately occurred.”

Mr Ranasinghe conceded during the trial that the cyclist in no manner contributed to the collision other than by his mere presence.

His Honour ultimately concluded that he was not satisfied that “the admitted negligence that resulted in danger to the deceased was such a serious breach of the proper management and control by the accused of the truck at the time of the impact and in the circumstances in which it was driven so as to attract liability for the offence charged.”

Mr Ranasinghe was sentenced to the back-up charge of ‘negligent driving occasioning death’ and given a three-year Community Corrections Order and a disqualification of 3 years, commencing 8 December 2021. His Honour acknowledged the profound impact the incident had on the family of Mr Arnold, the deceased, together with the contrition and remorse of Mr Ranasinghe who had suffered severe post-traumatic stress in the aftermath.

Judge Penny Wass criticises DPP Sally Dowling over complaints to Chief Judge Sarah Huggett

A judge has delivered a seething spray against the state’s embattled top prosecutor after discovering DPP Sally Dowling SC secretly complained to the judge’s boss about the way she was doing her job.

District Court Judge Penny Wass SC was forced to delay the criminal case she was presiding over after being informed that Ms Dowling had emailed the court’s Chief Judge, Sarah Huggett on May 22, over legal calls she had made in three cases.

In the email, Ms Dowling made a threat to Justice Huggett that she would appeal Judge Wass’ calls if she made “a similar decision in the future”, Judge Wass revealed in a written judgment on May 26 for the case that can’t legally be identified.

Judge Wass told the court the timing of the Director of Public Prosecutions email was “highly inappropriate, particularly from an experienced Senior Counsel” given that she had to delay one of the cases to address the complaint.

“I do wish to assure the parties and any future litigants…that the correspondence from Ms Dowling has had absolutely no effect on my consideration of the relevant issues other than to further delay (the case)....,” Judge Wass told the court.

The flare up continues a developing war between Ms Dowling and a growing collection of District Court Judges.

Since last year, five judges have criticised Ms Dowling’s office for prosecuting rape cases they say were doomed to fail prompting an audit of every sexual case in NSW.

Legal experts said Ms Dowling may have broken legal conduct rules by complaining to the chief judge without informing the judge hearing the trial, the defence lawyers or the prosecuting lawyers on the case.

“If there is any complaint about a judge’s conduct during a case you can’t keep it a secret from any parties to the case - including the judge,” lawyer Paul McGirr said. “There has to be an opportunity for the judge to respond and right any potential missteps on the public record, otherwise there is a risk that a person won’t receive a fair trial.

“Justice not only has to be done, it has to be seen to be done.”

In her email, Ms Dowling took issue with an “emerging practice” by Judge Wass in cases which included ordering a witness to hand over their phone while they left the courtroom to take an emergency bathroom break.

Another included an order that Judge Wass gave for the disclosure of evidence in a second case which resulted in an accused pleading guilty.

A third saw Judge Wass direct a witness to produce their phone’s PIN code during a case for reasons that were undisclosed.

Ms Dowling told the chief judge that Judge Wass had “ignored the existing mechanisms” relating to the production of evidence.

Judge Wass found out about Ms Dowling’s complaint days later after being told about it by Justice Huggett.

“Indeed, the final remarks by Ms Dowling, as they contained a warning to me, made clear that they needed to be conveyed to me forthwith,” Judge Wass wrote.

Judge Wass criticised the timing of Ms Dowling’s complaint as it came when she was deliberating over two of the cases.

“Had this opinion been conveyed directly to me at any time, but particularly at this time, I would have regarded it as being highly inappropriate, particularly from an experienced senior counsel (like Ms Dowling),” Judge Wass wrote.

Judge Penny Wass takes aim at DPP Sally Dowling over complaints to boss | Daily Telegraph

Joch McLean avoids full-time custodial sentence

Paul McGirr, instructing Michael Smith barrister, has successfully argued that Joch McLean, the son of former Queensland origin player Mike McLean, should avoid full-time imprisonment after he was convicted of commercial drug supply.

District Court Judge Andrew Scotting issued Mr McLean a section 11 “Griffith” remand allowing him to continue rehabilitation with Elite Athlete Wellbeing Services, operated by Jan Earl.

“The ball is in his court,” Paul McGirr told the Daily Telegraph. “He needs to keep on the straight and narrow or he’ll go in. Simple as that.”

Craig Young a 'stand-up bloke' for supporting Brett Finch: Paul McGirr

Paul McGirr has passionately defended the character of St George Illawarra Dragons Chairman Craig Young after he received criticism for providing a letter of support for former NRL player Brett Finch in his sentencing proceedings.

“He’s a stand-up bloke,” McGirr told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“Craig has illustrated to me and the Finch family that if you can’t rely on people you think are your mates in your time of need, then they aren’t true mates. Many others offered silent support but Craig was prepared to not only put in writing his support but also front up to court and say it under oath. He wasn’t there to be popular. He was there to stand up and support.

“He knows all the facts and made it clear he despises anything to do with this type of offence. A great number of people aren’t interested in knowing the full story about why and how Brett committed this offence.

“He’s guilty regardless of the reasoning but Craig on oath made it clear that he doesn’t believe Brett has a sexual interest in children but drugs put him in this position.

“I’ve known Craig for over a decade and if I was going over the trenches, I’d want him next to me.”

Mr Finch is represented by McGirr & Associates.