A judge has withdrawn from a case after asking whether missing Middle Eastern lawyers had gone to ‘Bankstown or Beirut’ during a sentencing hearing for a woman of Lebanese descent.
District Court Judge Garry Neilson has recused himself from sentencing drug dealer Gladiss Mahfouz, who lives in Sydney’s western suburb of Bankstown, known for its Lebanese community, admitting his sarcastic inquiry could be seen as “problematic”.
On December 14 last year, Judge Neilson asked about Mahfouz’s lawyer Mustafa Agar, who had gone to see if her lawyer Ertunc Ozen SC had completed a conference call with another court, bringing the Mahfouz trial to a standstill.
Judge Garry Neilson has recused himself from a criminal trial after making a comment that defense lawyers say could be interpreted as showing racial prejudice against the guilty party.
Clearly frustrated by the long delay, Judge Neilson asked Attorney General Sarah Gul: “Ms Crown, do you know where Mr Agar has gone? Is it Bankstown or Beirut?’
Subsequently, Mr. Ozen and Mr. Agar, neither of whom have family from Lebanon, filed a motion that the judge remove himself from the trial because of the comment.
Mr Ozen argued that while the comment did not demonstrate that Judge Neilson was biased against people of Lebanese descent, it could be perceived as such by an ‘honest’ member of the public.
“The comments could be seen as an indication that Judge Neilson “might give less thought to, or give less weight to, the comments of a person of this particular ethnic background,” Mr Ozen said, according to a report in the newspaper. Daily telegram.
“Moreover, in the current climate and growing negative stereotypes surrounding Lebanese and Arab peoples, such comments by the court were not only unfortunate but would also have carried a particularly poignant sting.”
“They would have the effect of undermining (Mahfouz’s) confidence that entries submitted on her behalf will receive equal consideration as entries submitted on her behalf by persons of other ethnic backgrounds.”
Ms Gul supports the motion.
Mahfouz, who was found guilty of supplying cocaine, will appear before another judge on April 5.
The denial is the latest in a series of controversies surrounding Judge Neilson.
Judge Nielson asked whether lawyer Mustafa Agar (pictured) had gone to Bankstown or Beirut in search of lawyer Ertunc Ozen SC
In 2014, he was referred to the Judicial Commission over his suitability to deal with further criminal cases, after saying that the community may not view incest involving pedophilia as ‘unnatural’ or ‘taboo’ because it had accepted practices such as homosexuality.
The comments were made while he presided over a case of a woman who was allegedly sexually abused by her older brother when she was 10 and 18 years old.
Judge Neilson said the abuse she suffered as an adult need not be viewed in proportion to the abuse she suffered as a child because she had become “sexually awakened” by then, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
In 2017, Judge Neilson was reprimanded by the Court of Appeal for reading out a 17-hour judgment in four days in a May 2016 negligence case.
Judge Neilson ultimately awarded a man almost $340,000 in damages after he was thrown from a horse along a road near Wagga Wagga, in south-west NSW, as a car drove past.
Lawyer Ertunc Ozen SC argued that the judge’s comment could cause an ‘honest’ person to see racist prejudice