Legal cases - crime

Question 1

Ben Roberts-Smith

Answer 1

former Australian SAS soldier and Victoria Cross Winner. He suspected of
committing war crimes while deployed in Afghanistan. In 2023, his defamation case against multiple newspapers was concluded, finding that the stories published about him were not defamatory.

Question 2

Bilal Skaf

Answer 2

found guilty of a series of gang rapes in 2002, eventually being sentenced to 31 years in prison following a series of appeals that eventually reached the High Court.

Question 3

Singh

Answer 3

killed his wife after she provoked him. His trial saw his murder charge dropped to
manslaughter. It led to amendments replacing provocation with extreme provocation, making this partial defence harder to obtain.

Question 4

Chris Dawson

Answer 4

killed his wife in 1982, but was not convicted of the murder until 2022. This came after a 2018 podcast series “The Teacher’s Pet” investigated the case.

Question 5

Clare Nowland

Answer 5

95 year old grandmother who was tasered by police while armed with a knife. She died a week later.

Question 6

Eddie Mabo

Answer 6

Torres Strait Islander man who successfully sought native title through the High
Court.

Question 7

Kathleen Folbigg

Answer 7

convicted of killing three of her children in 2003, but later pardoned in 2023 by
the Governor on advice of the Attorney General following an inquiry into the conviction.

Question 8

Kieran Loveridge

Answer 8

sentenced to 6 years in prison for the one punch killing of Thomas Kelly. The
sentence was increased on appeal to 10 ½ years for being “manifestly inadequate” and was a key
contribution to the introduction of Sydney’s lockout laws.

Question 9

LMW

Answer 9

10 year old boy who killed 8 year old Corey Davis and charged with manslaughter, but
was dismissed on the basis of doli incapax.

Question 10

Man Monis

Answer 10

took the Lindt Café hostage in 2014 while on bail while charged with accessory to
murder of his former wife. This led to the government introducing tighter bail laws in 2015 to refuse
bail where the accused is a terrorist risk.

Question 11

Martin Bryant

Answer 11

killed 35 people in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur with a semi-automatic rifle.
This led to stricter gun control laws being rapidly introduced by the Australian Government.

Question 12

Mick Hawi

Answer 12

Mick Hawi was a bikie gang member who killed a rival bikie gang member with a bollard at Sydney
Airport. When he was granted bail under the new 2013 bail laws it led the NSW Government to
tighten bail laws by introducing the “show cause” test.

Question 13

Nicholas Toonen

Answer 13

Nicholas Toonen is a gay man from Tasmania who brought a complaint before the UN Human Rights
Committee, arguing that Tasmania’s sodomy laws were inconsistent with the ICCPR. It led to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Tasmania in 1994, the final jurisdiction where it was illegal.

Question 14

Olaf Dietrich

Answer 14

Olaf Dietrich was accused of drug smuggling and offered legal aid only if he pleaded guilty. The High Court ruled that this was a miscarriage of justice and established a limited right to legal
representation in serious indictable offences.

Question 15

Robert Hughes

Answer 15

Robert Hughes was a former Australian TV star who was found guilty of sexually assaulting fellow
cast members. He was given additional protection in prison due to his high profile.

Question 16

Robert Xie

Answer 16

Robert Xie was found guilty of murdering his extended family. The trial had to be restarted twice.

Question 17

Roberto Curti

Answer 17

Roberto Curti was a Brazilian student who was reported to have been armed while robbing a
convenience store. He would soon after be tasered 14 times by police and subsequently died. It led
to a tightening of rules surrounding when police should use tasers.

Question 18

Simon Gittany

Answer 18

Simon Gittany was found guilty of pushing his girlfriend, Lisa Harnum, off the balcony of an
apartment next to Hyde Park. The decision was overturned on appeal on the basis of evidence
submitted not being sufficient to convict beyond reasonable doubt.

Question 19

Thomas Kelly

Answer 19

Thomas Kelly was punched by Kieran Loveridge in Kings Cross and died days later in hospital. His
death led to changes to the Victims Rights Act, enabling a Victim Impact Statement that is submitted
by the family of the deceased to influence the sentence of their killer. His family also established the
Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation, later renamed to Stay Kind.