AUSTRAILIA - Threat to bikie consorting case

OFF THE WIRE
THE mother of the first man sent to prison under controversial new "consorting" legislation designed to combat organised crime in NSW has accused police of abusing the law deliberately to target her son.
Charlie Maxwell Foster was yesterday granted leave to appeal against his conviction, withdrawing his previous guilty plea, after a state prosecutor conceded there were "essential elements" missing from the police case.
Any decision to quash or set aside his conviction, expected today in Armidale District Court, could prove embarrassing for the police, and a further obstacle to attempts to develop anti-gang laws targeting bikies nationally.
Bikie clubs across the country have agreed to co-operate to fund legal challenges to these laws, with the United Motorcycle Council of Queensland funding some of the legal costs involved in Mr Foster's appeal.
Speaking outside the court, Tricia Harrison said her son, who has an intellectual disability and can neither read nor write, had been unfairly targeted by local police.
"I believe he was, and I believe he has been for a long time," she said. "It's abuse of the law. For me, they (the police) have just used the law for exactly the thing it was taken off them for."
The offence of "habitually consorting" came into effect in NSW in April, and makes it a crime punishable by three years' prison for convicted criminals to communicate, whether in person, by email, telephone or Facebook.
Similar legislation was first used in the 1920s to tackle organised crime gangs, but was abandoned after criticism that police were abusing the law to target individuals.
The legislation was reformed earlier this year as part of the state government's "war on drive-by shootings", which police said at the time was largely the result of conflict between bikie gangs.
At the time, Attorney-General Greg Smith said "the intention of the consorting legislation is not to criminalise relationships between individuals but to prevent people strengthening their ties with underworld gangs".
Mr Foster, who was initially jailed for 12 months for consorting, has no link to any organised crime gang, and has played no role in any drive-by shooting.
He was represented yesterday by Wayne Baffsky, who also works as counsel to the Hells Angels and last year led a successful High Court challenge after the NSW government attempted to have the club declared a criminal organisation.
That decision came after the South Australian government lost a separate High Court challenge to its own non-association laws, aimed at bikie clubs, in 2010.
NSW Police recently completed the paperwork for a fresh attempt to have the Hells Angels declared a criminal organisation, which is before the state's Attorney-General.
Speaking inside the court, Mr Baffsky said the police fact sheet used to convict Mr Foster "does not contain all the essential elements" for a charge to be laid.
Judge Clive Jeffreys adjourned the matter until today.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/threat-to-bikie-consorting-case/story-e6frg6nf-1226449611146