Author: Kev

SYDNEY  siege gunman Man Haron Monis and his partner racked up tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees unsuccessfully ­defending themselves after sending hate mail to the families of dead Diggers — all at taxpayers’ expense. After shopping around, Monis found lawyer Hugo Aston. Aston told him he thought he had a case for an appeal against his conviction, for sending letters to the families of dead Diggers.

“It seemed there was a case here for the High Court to determine the veracity of the legislation under which he was charged,” Aston said yesterday. “Basically, on the implied right to free speech, because not only did he send the letters to families of the deceased he also sent them to politicians.”

How much did this appeal cost?

“I wouldn’t have a clue, it was all funded through the public purse, Legal Aid.”

Wouldn’t have a clue?  So he didn’t raise a file and record time spent on the case.  He didn’t discuss it with senior partners and Legal Aid were never sent a bill? Right! What he means is, he is embarrassed and the firm are trying to downplay their contribution. Who draws the line in these cases?  I have fondly thought that Legal Aid was available to poor people to help them get justice.  Now I find it’s available for enemies of the state to attack us. Further adding to the cost to taxpayers, Monis’s partner, Amirah Droudis, ran a concurrent case over the same matter, also to the High Court.

“They didn’t strike me as particularly sane sorts of people, they seemed a little unhinged,” Mr Aston said of the couple. “And, of course, what they were doing had nothing to do with Islam, it was born of fanaticism and ignorance.”

Aston’s law firm obviously did well out of the appeal but does anyone ever apply ethics when deciding who should get Legal Aid or is it just a case of “I think I see a loop hole where we can make money.

Legal Aid NSW paid for Monis’s legal representation — including a law firm and three barristers — as he took his case all the way to the High Court, despite his lawyer considering him “unhinged” and “fanatical” at the time.

The report ran to 85 pages and three judges of the high court went Monis’s way.  What were the thinking – that it’s really OK to send recently bereaved widows and families hate letters telling them their soldier relatives were murderers because…free speech? This whole affair offends me in so many ways. The judiciary release on bail a man charged with accessory to murder of his wife, of 40 or 50 cases of sexual abuse and found guilty of writing the letters to Army KIA Next of Kin and then Legal Aid chips in to help him by billing that taxpayer for the costs of a law firm and three barristers. And then he goes to the Lindt Cafe.    

His name is Man Haron Monis and he has just murdered two Australians and wounded two others in the Sydney seige He is known to police for being an accessory before and after the fact of the murder of his wife by his new girlfriend.  He has 40 charges of sexual assault against him and came to my notice for his habit of writing deplorable and offensive letters to the next of kin of diggers killed in action It has been Monis’ on-going legal battle for his conviction for penning the poisonous letters to the families of dead Australian soldiers between 2007 and 2009 that has consumed him. It is understood yesterday’s incident followed an unsuccessful, last-ditch attempt in the High Court on Friday to have the charges overturned. With all that is known about him I find it odd that the Magistrate considered him no threat to the public and released him on bail. Monis was sentenced to 300 hours of community service and placed on a two year good behaviour bond for the “offensive and deplorable letters” sent with the assistance of his girlfriend Amirah Droudis. They were sent to the families of  Private Luke Worsley and Lance Corporal Jason Marks, who were killed in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008. He also sent a letter in 2009 to the family of the Austrade official Craig Senger, who was killed in the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in 2007. Monis claimed the letters were his own version of a “flower basket” or “condolence card”. Bree Till, widow of Sergeant Brett Till, killed while defusing a bomb on March 12, 2009, said at the time of his conviction:

“We sat reading these letters (which) made out to be something supportive but then the juxtaposition of this man accusing my husband of being a child-killer while dictating how I should raise my children. It was scary,” she said.

He fought the validity of the charges all the way to the High Court arguing they were political and only sought to persuade the families to oppose Australia’s military involvement in Afghanistan.

But when he lost that battle, and had to stand trial, he pleaded guilty to all 12 charges against him in August 2013

My take on the matter is that the people are fuming about the incident and questions will be asked of the police and the state politicians.  All I saw yesterday was blue uniforms saying how they wanted the incident to be resolved peacefully which is a noble aim that flies in the face of what we know about Islamic radicals and this guy in particular. The only good reason I can think of for not killing him by sniper is that the police had intelligence that he had bombs and/or accomplices who would detonate the bombs if things didn’t go his way.

If this is not the case then the question remains; why wasn’t he taken out, knowing what we do of his hatred of Australians?

The TRG teams are, of course, under orders so my statement is not leveled at them.

AN Australian serving as a sniper for Islamic State has been killed battling the Iraqi military amid airstrikes by coalition warplanes in Ramadi, in the tightly contested Anbar province, according to claims emerging from Baghdad. According to reports, an unidentified Islamic State fighter who is “probably” Australian was killed during heavy fighting in the south of Ramadi on Wednesday. Bit by bit we rid the country of sub-humans. I wonder if David Hicks might like to volunteer to fight for the enemy again?