R v Miller; R v Omar [2021] NSWDRGC 1

Drug Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Miller; R v Omar [2021] NSWDRGC 1 Hearing dates: 9 December 2020; 3 February 2021 Decision date: 09 March 2021 Before: His Honour Senior Judge Dive Decision: Not eligible for Drug Court Program Legislation Cited: Alcan (NT) v Territory Revenue [2009] 239 CLR 27 Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 Drug Court Act 1998 (NSW) Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (NSW) Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth) Cases Cited: Bull v Attorney-General of New South Wales [1913] 17 CLR 356 Chandler v DPP [2000] 113 A Crim R 196 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Commonwealth Crown David Miller (Offender) Ibrahim Omar (Offender) Representation: T Muir for the Crown J Glissan QC for offender Miller J Jiang for offender Omar File Number(s): R v Miller 2019/00054285, 2019/00306828; R v Omar 2019/00218892

Judgment 1. Mr David Miller and Mr Ibrahim Omar are before the Drug Court for a determination as to whether their federal offences can be the subject of a Drug Court program under the Drug Court Act 1998 (NSW). Despite the Drug Court having been in operation for over twenty years, it is my understanding that this issue has not been the subject of a contested hearing before. 2. The charges involve a conspiracy whereby the two offenders, together with another, conspired together to purport to be genuine child care providers and defrauded the Commonwealth Department of Education of over $9 million by falsely claiming and obtaining child care payments. False claims were made for nearly 400,000 sessions of child care on behalf of 2,132 children. 3. The matters had some history in the District Court of NSW before they were adjourned to the Drug Court. In written submissions, the Crown helpfully set out that history, and I adopt much of that summary in the following paragraphs.