The first man convicted under the state government's consorting laws has had his conviction overturned, with prosecutors admitting the case against him was inadequate.
Charlie Foster, 21, was jailed for at least nine months for associating with other convicted offenders in the NSW town of Inverell.
You consort with two people and you are punished by being put in jail, thereby consorting with another couple of hundred. The sense of that is somewhat lost on me  
The laws were introduced to curtail bikie-related violence in Sydney's west, although Foster has no connections to outlaw motorcycle gangs or organised crime.
Foster's legal aid solicitor had entered pleas of guilty to the charges on Foster's behalf, but a review of the requirements of the legislation following his conviction led to today's appeal.
His barrister, Wayne Baffsky, told Armidale District Court today his client withdrew his plea of guilty to consorting with the trio - his friends and housemates - because the evidence did not support such a conviction.
Prosecutors had no opposition to the application for the case to return to the Armidale Local Court, conceding their evidence was inadequate.
District Court judge Clive Jeffreys ordered the case to return to the Armidale Local Court for rehearing on a fresh brief of evidence.
Speaking outside Armidale District Court today, Mr Baffsky said he was unsurprised the law had been used for reasons other than those flagged by the government.
"I knew that was going to happen here, because you give anyone too much power and they're going to abuse it," he said.
"If you look at the history of consorting legislation in NSW, as soon as the police used it to target the razor gangs, they then used it to target people that they didn't particularly like.
"I knew it would happen eventually; I just didn't think it was going to happen this fast."
Mr Baffsky also provides counsel to the Hells Angels and United Motorcycle Council. He said it did not make sense for somebody to be punished with imprisonment for consorting with criminals.
"You consort with two people and you are punished by being put in jail, thereby consorting with another couple of hundred," he said. "The sense of that is somewhat lost on me."
Mr Baffsky remains hopeful the law will be repealed, but said the appeal was unlikely to achieve that.
"You don't need these sorts of laws in a democratic society; they target people for who they are," he said.
"I will certainly be speaking up publicly about this legislation because it's dangerous and has too great a chance of being misused."
Foster's mother Tricia Harrison said Foster shared a cell in Tamworth with one of the men police claimed he was consorting with.
She expressed relief at the overturned conviction.
"I just felt like a whole weight had lifted off me, knowing that he's going to be out," she said.
Ms Harrison said the police had deliberately targeted her son.
"It seems that they've deliberately targeted my son for some reason that I don't understand," she said.
"He's never done anything like what they brought the law in for."
Foster is serving a sentence for an unrelated offence and will be released from Tamworth Correction Centre on September 22, before a new hearing takes place in Armidale Local Court on September 24.
He is required to reside at his grandmother's house in Inverell as part of his bail conditions.
He appeared in the court via video link from Tamworth.
He thanked the judge and Mr Baffsky for the result.
Edward Santow, chief executive officer of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, said the consorting law was far too broad and could criminalise people who were no threat to the community.
"It risks catching in its net people who happen to have been convicted of an indictable offence, but who are nevertheless meeting up for legitimate reasons," he said.
Mr Santow said it would be an offence if two people with criminal records spent time a lot of together simply playing in the same football team or were members of the same bowling club.
"If this consorting law is enforced to the letter, it will criminalise a huge number of people who are no danger to the community. On the other hand, if the law is selectively enforced, it will make the law dangerously unpredictable, and give the police too much discretion," he said.
- with Ilya Gridneff

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/give-anyone-too-much-power-and-theyre-going-to-abuse-it-states-first-consorting-verdict-overturned-20120814-246a6.html#ixzz23ZQj2bn7