State of New South Wales v Elmir [2019] NSWSC 263

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: State of New South Wales v Elmir [2019] NSWSC 263 Hearing dates: 12 March 2019 Date of orders: 12 March 2019 Decision date: 12 March 2019 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Campbell J Decision: Interim Supervision order granted. Parties to bring in Short Minutes of Order. Catchwords: Interim Supervision Order – eligible offender – supervision expiry before proceeding end – Commonwealth charges Legislation Cited: Criminal Code Act 1995 (CTH), s 119 Terrorism (High Risk Offenders) Act 2017 (NSW), ss 10, 20, 23, 24, 22, 27, 29 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: State of New South Wales (Plaintiff) Amin Elmir (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: A. Casselden SC with C Melis (Plaintiff) M. Pickin (Defendant)

Solicitors: Crown Solicitors Office (Plaintiff) File Number(s): 2019/54759

Ex tempore judgment – revised 1. By summons filed on 19 February 2019, the State of New South Wales ("the State") under s 22 of the Terrorism (High Risk Offenders) Act 2017 NSW has applied for an extended supervision order in respect of the defendant, Mr Amin Elmir. 2. The summons also seeks an interim supervision order under s 27 of the Act, an order for the appointment by the Court of two experts to provide reports to the Court as to risk assessment and risk management, and an order restricting access to the Court's file unless and until a Judge makes an order in that regard after the parties have been provided the opportunity to be heard. 3. Under s 27 of the Act, this Court is empowered to make an interim supervision order in respect of a person referred to as an eligible offender if in proceedings for an extended supervision order it appears to the Court: "(a) that the offender's current custody or supervision will expire before the proceedings are determined; and (b) that the matters alleged in the supporting documentation would, if proved, justify the making of an extended supervision order". It is not in issue before me that Mr Elmir's current custody will expire before these proceedings are determined. 1. It is appropriate to say that Mr Elmir is currently in custody. He was arrested in December 2016 on Commonwealth charges. He has been charged under section 119.4(1) of the Criminal Code (Commonwealth) ("the Code") that between the hours of 23 April and 19 June 2016 he intentionally engaged in conduct in the Republic of Turkey, namely committing acts in preparation for incursions into a foreign country, namely the Syrian Arab Republic for the purpose of engaging in hostile activities contrary to s. 119.1 of the Code. 2. Mr Elmir has recently pleaded guilty to that Commonwealth charge. Apart from the sentence that he is currently serving, to which I shall return in a moment, he is in custody, bail refused, on remand, awaiting sentence for that offence. I am informed that the proceedings on sentence have been fixed for hearing before my colleague, the Honourable Justice Davies on 28 June at 2019. It is not unreasonable to expect that following those proceedings his Honour will take some time for consideration, but it is likely, no doubt, that sentence would be passed within three or four weeks. Those observations are relevant for today's purposes in a way I will explain in a moment. 3. While in custody on remand for that Commonwealth matter, Mr Elmir committed the offences, to which he pleaded guilty of assaulting not one but two corrective officers at the Correctional Centre where he has been held in custody. He was sentenced in the Local Court to terms of imprisonment for each of those offences, and the longer sentence expires on 17 March 2019, that is to say next Sunday. For that reason the application for interim orders has been brought on with a degree of urgency.