Hilmi v R [2019] NSWSC 1117

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Hilmi v R [2019] NSWSC 1117 Hearing dates: 14 August 2019 Date of orders: 27 August 2019 Decision date: 27 August 2019 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Garling J Decision: Release Application dismissed Catchwords: BAIL – release application – no show cause requirement – strength in prosecution case – risk that applicant will commit further offences Legislation Cited: Bail Act 2013 Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) Proceeds of Crime Act 2012 (Cth) Cases Cited: Nil Texts Cited: Nil Category: Principal judgment Parties: Amal Hilmi (Applicant) Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: L Randle (Applicant – 14.8.19) S Joyner (Applicant – 27.8.19) A Ditton (Respondent)

Solicitors: Matouk Joyner Lawyers (Applicant) Commonwealth DPP (Respondent) File Number(s): 2019/212092

Judgment 1. This is an application for bail by Amal Hilmi.

Offences 1. Ms Hilmi was arrested and charged on 22 May 2019, and has been in custody since that time. She is charged (together with five co-accused) with two offences. The first offence is contrary to s 135.1(1) of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) ("the Criminal Code"), namely, dishonestly obtaining a gain in the 12 month period between 17 December 2017 and 18 December 2018 from the National Disability Insurance Agency ("NDIA"); secondly, an offence contrary to s 409(1) of the Criminal Code, namely, that between 17 December 2017 and 18 December 2018, she did possess money or other property reasonably suspected to be the proceeds of crime to the value of $100,000 or more. 2. The co-accused are Alaedine Rifai, who is the applicant's partner and father of their child Youssef, who was born in October 2018. Mr Rifai was arrested and charged with the same offences and is presently in custody; the second co-accused is her brother Mostafa Hilmi. He is also charged with the same offences as the applicant and is presently in custody; the third co-accused is another brother of the applicant, Alhassane Hilmi. He is charged with the same offences as the applicant and is also presently in custody. There are two other individuals who are charged with the same offences, Michelle Ross, who is the applicant's sister-in-law, and Sumaiah Alshakhshir, who is the partner of one of the applicant's brothers. Ms Alshakhshir is also charged with an additional offence against s 137.1 of the Criminal Code. Neither of these last two co-accused are in custody - one has been granted conditional bail by police, and the other was issued with a Court Attendance Notice.