Mallard wants senior police officers sacked

A man convicted and jailed for more than 11 years for a murder he did not commit in Western Australia says he will organise public demonstrations if the officers who helped convict him involved are not sacked from the police force.

Andrew Mallard served almost 12 years in jail for the murder of Pamela Lawrence but his conviction was quashed.

A Corruption and Crime Commission report released last week made misconduct findings against the prosecuting lawyer, Ken Bates, and two police officers, Mal Shervill and Dave Caporn, who now hold senior ranks.

Assistant Commissioner Shervill and Assistant Commissioner Caporn have been stood down on full pay, but no action has been taken against Mr Bates.

Mr Mallard says all three should be sacked.

"If the Commissioner does not sack Shervill, Caporn and Bates I will return to Perth and I will organise public demonstrations against the Police Commissioner," he said.

"In past findings by the triple of misconduct by politicians and public servants they are merely sacked, I mean come on, why are these people any different.

"If the correct results aren't forthwith then we're looking at a serious reputation of unreliability, incompetence, corruption."

Related:

Adverse findings against senior police
WA's Corruption and Crime Commission has suggested that disciplinary action be taken against two senior police and a senior lawyer over the wrongful conviction of Andrew Mallard.

Ngo inquiry: focus of Vietnamese witnesses

Phuong Ngo was convicted [framed] for the murder of Labor MP John Newman

The inquiry into the conviction of Phuong Ngo - the man jailed for masterminding Australia's first political assassination - will focus on the way the police and the Crown dealt with two Vietnamese witnesses and whether that had an impact on their reliability at the trial.

In a dramatic development, the case has recently been reopened by the Chief Justice of the NSW Supreme Court, James Spigelman.

David Patten, a retired District Court judge appointed to conduct a judicial review of Ngo's conviction for the murder of MP John Newman, said today that he wanted to hear from "police and NSW Crime Commission officers who were involved in the recorded interviews with [the two witnesses]".

He also wants to hear from Ngo and from the case officer at Ngo's trial, the now NSW Deputy Police Commissioner, Nick Kaldas.

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.

According to a draft of "suggested issues" released today, Mr Patten will have to decide whether the reliability of the two witnesses was "interdependent in a manner not disclosed by the Crown to Mr Ngo and, if so, whether such interdependence undermined their reliability".

He will also have to decide whether the evidence those witnesses gave before Judge Stephen Norrish at a District Court trial in 2003 undermined their evidence in the Ngo trial.

Mr Newman was killed outside his home at Cabramatta on September 5, 1994. Ngo was convicted of his murder in June 2001 and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The case was reopened by Justice Spigelman on the basis of a report by an academic from the Australian National University, Hugh Selby.

Mr Selby drew on a report by Professor Reg Coutts, from the University of Adelaide, casting doubt on Crown mobile phone evidence.

Mr Hastings said today that Professor Coutts was available to make further inquiries, and appeared to be ready to start straight away, but he needed to be told the extent to which he needed to inquire further.

The issues to be considered in the inquiry include the extent to which mobile telephone records tendered in the trial provided satisfactory evidence as to the whereabouts of Ngo, and whether those records were "consistent or inconsistent with the Crown case".

Mr Patten will have to decide whether the Crown "frankly and fully disclosed to Mr Ngo the circumstances which led to the finding of a firearm in the Georges River at Voyager Point and, if not, whether such omission potentially impacted upon the trial".

He will also have to decide whether the Crown failed to disclose to Ngo the existence of a record of interview between the then Inspector Kaldas and former Fairfield councillor Albert Ranse on May 28, 1999, and to what extent that failure, if it occurred, impacted on the trial.

Mr Patten granted an adjournment until 11am next Wednesday so the issue can be resolved on whether Ngo is to get legal aid, and he ordered that Ngo be brought from Goulburn jail [solitary confinement] to the court complex that day to confer with Mr Hastings.

Related:

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.

Salt three released from prison

The Salt nightclub, where the fight began, is now closed

Three men acquitted of the murder of a man outside a South Yarra nightclub in 2002, have been released from prison.

James Huynh was hacked to death with samurai swords, after a fight with a group of men at the Salt nightclub.

Long Tran, Hong Bui and Hoang Tran were convicted and sentenced to 15 years jail.

But they are free today, after the Victorian Court of Appeal found they played no role in the killing.

Mr Huynh's cousins, Viet and Nam Huynh, jumped into the Yarra River and drowned.

Cuong Lam and Hung Van were originally sentenced to 30 years jail for the murders of James Huynh and his cousins.

But the convictions over the murders of Viet and Nam Huynh have been quashed.

The Appeal Court found there was not enough evidence to prove they chased the cousins to the Yarra.

Their sentences have been reduced to 18 years with a minimum of 15.

Related:

Five acquitted in Salt nightclub case
The Victorian Court of Appeal has acquitted five men, and reduced the sentences for two others, jailed over the Salt nightclub killings at South Yarra in 2002.

Five acquitted in Salt nightclub case

The Victorian Court of Appeal has acquitted five men, and reduced the sentences for two others, jailed over the Salt nightclub killings at South Yarra in 2002.

James Huynh died from wounds after being attacked with a sword, following a fight that broke out at the Salt nightclub.

His two cousins drowned in the Yarra River trying to flee from their attackers.

Today, in the Court of Appeal, the main instigators, Cuong Lam and Hung Van had their sentences halved. They will serve a minimum of 15 years jail.

They were also acquitted of the murders of the two cousins who drowned.

Three other men, Long Tran, Hong Bui and Hoang Tran, who had been jailed for aiding and abetting the sword murder of James Huynh, have also been acquitted.

Convicted murderer allowed 2nd appeal

In an extraordinary decision, a Queensland man convicted of murder will be allowed a second chance to appeal for a pardon.

Queensland Attorney-General Kerry Shine late yesterday referred 44-year-old Graham Stafford's second petition to the Court of Appeal.

Stafford has consistently denied any involvement in the 1991 brutal slaying of his then-girlfriend's 12-year-old sister Leanne Holland.

Doubts have been raised about the timing and place of Ms Holland's death, regarding discrepancies between witness statements and the evidence presented in court.

Mr Shine's spokesman says the matter has been referred to the Court of Appeal but it does not mean the Minister has formed an opinion on the matter.

However he says Mr Shine believes the judges on the Court of Appeal should hear the new evidence.

A criminologist has welcomed a second judicial review of a Queensland murder conviction.

Queensland criminologist Paul Wilson says he contributed to the new petition for pardon.

"I think the evidence very strongly points to the fact that Graham Stafford is innocent of the crime, that this has been a miscarriage of justice, and I'm hopeful that the Appeal Court will see it in this way," he said.

Meanwhile, the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties has called for reform to the way suspected miscarriages of justice are handled.

Civil libertarian Terry O'Gorman says Queensland should adopt the United Kingdom's approach, where such cases are referred to a special criminal cases review commission.

"With those reforms I dare say that Mr Stafford's matter would have been referred back to the Court of Appeal earlier and with those reforms in place it means that if there is another Mr Stafford and that person in the future can't raise the funds then they'll still have a chance to remedy their miscarriage of justice," he said.

Quote: Better late than never?