Sections 310I to 313 of the NSW Crimes Act 1900 outlines terrorism and public justice offences.
Terrorism is an act which involves a threat to national security and societal intimidation. It aims to destabilise government systems and instill fear among the community.
Furthermore, public justice offences are those acts that interfere with the administration of justice. Examples of this crime are perjury, bribery, and contempt of court.
This article will provide a general overview of the offences under section 310I to 313 of the Act.
Terrorism and Public Justice Offences: Terrorist Organisations
A terrorist organisation is an organisation that directly or indirectly engages in, preparing, planning, assisting in or fostering the doing of a terrorist act (s310I).
Moreover, the Commonwealth Criminal Code also deems an organisation as a terrorist organisation if it advocates the doing of a terrorist act. Also, Australian criminal law identifies an organisation as a terrorist organisation if:
- There is proof beyond reasonable doubt that an organisation is a terrorist organisation as part of the prosecution for a terrorist offence.
- The organisation is specified in the Regulations as a terrorist organisation. This is a ‘listing’ – it involves certain processes set out in the legislation.
According to the Australian National Security (ANS), there are 30 terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code:
- Abu Sayyaf Group
- Al-Qa’ida
- Al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula
- Al-Qa’ida in the Indian Subcontinent
- Al-Qa’ida in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb
- Al-Shabaab
- Ansaar Allah
- Boko Haram
- Hamas
- Hay’at Tarir al-Sham
To see the full list, visit the ANS website.
Section 310J of this Act also provides that membership of a terrorist organisation is a punishable offence. If a person is intentionally a member of a terrorist organisation and the person has knowledge that the organisation is identified as such, he or she may be liable to a maximum imprisonment of 10 years.
Under the section, it can be a defence against the prosecution if the person proves that:
- he or she took all reasonable steps to cease to be a member of the organisation as soon as possible
- after he or she knew that the organisation was a terrorist organisation.
Section 310K provides for the rule as to the multiplicty of offences. If an act or omission is an offence against the Crimes Act 1900 and the Commonwealth Criminal Code and:
- the offender has already been punished for the Commonwealth Criminal Code offence,
- the offender will not be liable for the offence under the Crimes Act 1900.
Terrorism and Public Justice Offences: Other Provisions
Before proceeding to our next topic on public justice offences, here are some terms under section 311 of the Crimes Act:
- Judicial officer: a person who is, or who alone or with others constitutes, a judicial tribunal and includes a coroner.
- Judicial proceeding: a proceeding in or before a judicial tribunal in which evidence may be taken on oath.
- Judicial tribunal: a person, court or body authorised by law, or by consent of parties, to conduct a hearing for the purpose of the determination of any matter or thing and includes a person, court or body authorised to conduct a committal proceeding.
- Public justice official: means a person who is a public officer employed in any capacity (other than as a judicial officer) for the investigation, detection or prosecution of offenders.
- Pervert the course of justice (s312): obstructing, preventing, perverting or defeating the course of justice or the administration of the law.
Section 313 of the Act states that the knowledge about the type of offence is unnecessary. This means that if it is an element of an offence under Part 7 (Public Justice Offences), the prosecution does not have to establish that the offender knew that the offence was:
- a serious indictable offence or
- a child abuse offence.
Public justice offences are offensive acts that aim to interfere with:
- Administration of justice;
- Judicial officers or
- Jurors and witnesses.
Other types of public justice offences include:
- Perjury;
- Making of false statements; and
- Family violence charges with aiding and abetting the breach of the protection order, such as:
- Conspiracy to pervert the course of justice with the intention to reduce the culpability of the offender and
- Withdrawing of statements.
Terrorism and Public Justice Offences: A Case Study
In relation to the previous paragraph, here’s a case study on a family violence case where the Court found the offender, Deanne Bridgland, guilty of conspiracy and attempting to pervert the course of justice after a five-week trial.
She was sentenced in the County Court of Victoria to a two year suspended sentence. Ms. Bridgland here was a victim of severe family violence. Expert opinion states that her experience is some of the worst that she ever had.
Nicholas Pasinas who was Ms. Bridgland’s partner abused her and bashed her. He even snapped her arms like a twig. Other violent acts include raping her, locking her in their garage with her mouth shut with a tape.
The Court remanded Mr. Pasinas in custody for serious assault. However, Mr. Pasinas arranged to have Ms. Bridgland followed, despite the protection order against him. The police successfully recorded his phone calls to her which contains a conversation of persuading her to withdraw her statement against him.
In connection with this, he even arranged with another person to pick her up and take her to the police station to provide the police with the statement of ‘non-compliant’ against him. This gave her no choice but to give the withdrawal statement. She even wrote a letter which supports his release on bail.
Expert opinion states that Ms. Bridgland’s actions point towards the need to survive the situation. However, Ms. Bridgland was charged with agreeing with her partner to aid him in either:
- having him released from prison or
- reducing his culpability.
This case is an illustrative example of the concept of prosecuting public justice offences in Australia.
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