News and Media Releases

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions Townsville office will be closed today (27 March 2017)  given the impending crossing of Tropical Cyclone Debbie in North Queensland tomorrow morning.

Today, two men, Omar Al-Kutobi and Mohammad Kiad were sentenced in the Supreme Court of New South Wales by the Honourable Justice Peter Garling, for conspiring with each other to carry out acts in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act. Al-Kutobi  and Kiad were each sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.

Sevdet Besim has today been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for doing acts in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act.  A non-parole period of 7 years and 6 months was fixed.  It was alleged that Mr Besim planned to kill a police officer during Anzac Day commemorations in 2015 and then use the officer’s weapon to commit further acts of violence.

A 35 year old year old Sydney man, who pleaded guilty to offences relating to possessing and accessing child exploitation material, including a child sex doll, was sentenced in the Sydney District Court to a total effective sentence of 2 years and 3 months imprisonment with a non parole period of 1 year and 3 months.              

Deputy Director, Mr Scott Bruckard was yesterday awarded a Public Service Medal in recognition of his distinguished service to the law enforcement and justice community through spear heading counter-terrorism prosecutions.

Attorney-General for Australia, Senator the Hon George Brandis QC, has announced Ms Sarah McNaughton SC as the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

Ms McNaughton has 27 years’ experience as a legal practitioner. She has been a respected member of the NSW Bar since 1996 and was appointed Senior Counsel in 2011.

• Today, 18 April 2016, Ms Amber Heard appeared in the Southport Magistrates’ Court. The matter was before Judge Bernadette Callaghan.

• Ms Heard plead guilty to the 1 charge of knowingly producing a false or misleading document, namely an incoming passenger card, contrary to section 137.2(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth). 

A 23-year-old Melbourne man, Matthew David Graham, who controlled multiple child exploitation websites on the ‘dark web’, was today sentenced to 15 years and 6 months imprisonment with a non-parole period of 10 years.

Today, the Attorney-General, the Hon George Brandis QC announced Robert Bromwich SC has been appointed as a Judge to the Federal Court of Australia.

Read the full media release.

JOINT MEDIA RELEASE

Mr John Gay, former director and chairman of Gunns Limited, has been ordered to pay a $500,000 pecuniary penalty under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) relating to his conviction for insider trading.

A 30-year-old Canberra man, Joshua Ferguson was yesterday sentenced to 22 months imprisonment, to serve 5 months in custody, for child exploitation offences.   Ferguson was sentenced in relation to offences for accessing, transmitting and possessing child pornography material.

A Sydney accountant has been convicted and sentenced today for his role in advising a client on how to hide funds offshore with entities in Hong Kong and Switzerland, resulting in the avoidance of $4.5 million in tax.