In an embarrassing turn of events for an Eastern Suburbs anti domestic violence campaigner, Rachael Natoli, her application for a private AVO against Brett Chisholm, a junior football coach, was dismissed as “frivolous and vexatious” by the Court.
Read moreAllan brothers walk free after court rules police arrest was illegal
Paul McGirr represented brothers Darcy and Riley Allan in a lengthy local court hearing which finalised at Lithgow on 14 January 2019 after 4 days. The brothers had been facing assault charges, as well as charges of resisting arrest and hindering police.
By the time the court case ended, all the charges had been dismissed and the police actions criticised by the state’s Deputy Chief Magistrate Michael Allen, who ordered that taxpayers pay the brothers’ legal costs of $22,000.
Magistrate Allen found the arrest was illegal and video of the brothers being arrested at their Bowenfels home was tendered at Lithgow Court. Mobile phone footage shows Riley Allan yelling: “Get out!” and “This is my house, what are you doing?” while the police officer arresting him, Hayley Partington, shouts: “Get on the f...ing ground and f...ing stay there, c..t”.
Magistrate Allen found that the police illegally entered the brothers’ property and told the court: “I thought these days were long gone in the police”. His Honour further noted that in the circumstances there were a number of alternatives than physically entering their home to arrest them some 90 minutes after the original incident at the Grand Central Hotel in Lithgow. Paul McGirr noted that the police had all been “singing from the same hymn sheet” and the video evidence indicated that the police were the aggressors.
Former police officer beats charges of insurance fraud
For the second time in two years, former police officer Beaudie Cullen has had charges against him dismissed with costs with the assistance of Paul McGirr solicitor.
The most recent charges alleged that Mr Cullen had lodged a fraudulent insurance claim in respect of a laptop and headphones valued at $1400, however Magistrate Covington ruled that Mr Cullen had no case to answer after police had failed to investigate a number of matters, including the possibility that Mr Cullen had more than one laptop or set of headphones.
The outcome follows an earlier set of charges against Mr Cullen related to storage of ammunition in 2016 which were also dismissed with costs, again owing to poor police investigations.