Phuong Ngo was convicted [framed] for the murder of Labor MP John Newman
The man [framed], convicted [and held-in-solitary-confinement] for Australia's only political assassination will face court again in a fortnight for another hearing to discuss a judicial review of his case.
Former Fairfield councillor Phuong Ngo was found guilty of shooting New South Wales state Labor MP John Newman outside the victim's south-west Sydney home in September, 1994.
Ngo has spent the last seven years serving a never-to-be-released sentence for the murder in-solitary-confinement at the high-security Supermax jail, in southern NSW.
[Why people are held in indefinite-soliary-confinement in NSW jails are in the hope that they will never remember who they were or are. Braindead people tell fewer tales.]
But last month, the chief justice of the NSW Supreme Court ordered a judicial inquiry into the trial, after experts said misleading and circumstantial evidence was used.
Dressed in a suit and flanked by three security guards, Ngo sat quietly during today's 20-minute hearing in the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney.
His barrister, Peter Hastings QC, told the court his client had been granted legal aid for the judicial review due to start later this year.
The head of the inquiry, retired District Court judge David Patten, granted a two-week adjournment so Ngo's legal team could issue subpoenas to Telstra and other witnesses.
The review will examine the mobile phone evidence used during Ngo's trial, the independence of witnesses and whether police withheld any information.
Australian National University legal academic Hugh Selby applied for the review earlier this year, saying he was concerned the evidence used to convict Ngo was too circumstantial.
Related:
Australia to sign up to anti-torture treaty
There are no laws against 'indefinite solitary confinement' and detention in Australia which actually don't protect Australians against torture.
Ngo inquiry: focus of Vietnamese witnesses
Peter Hastings, QC, for Ngo, said today that if it could be demonstrated that documents were not produced or information not revealed at the time of Ngo's trial, that in itself "should be the basis for assessing the validity of the verdict". It should not even be necessary to go to oral evidence, he said.
Assassination review 'could take weeks'
The New South Wales Supreme Court has heard it could take several weeks to conduct a judicial review of the murder conviction over Australia's only political assassination.
MP murder conviction 'to be reviewed'
A judicial inquiry will be established to review the case of the man convicted of murdering NSW MP John Newman in 1994, a media report says. NSW Chief Justice Jim Spigelman has ordered an inquiry into the conviction of Phuong Ngo for ordering the murder.
Doubts on Newman murder verdict
There are doubts about the validity of the conviction of Phuong Ngo, who is serving life in prison for [allegedly] masterminding Australia's first political assassination.
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