R v Azar

Judgment

1. On 15 September 2016 the applicant pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Basem Salameh on 14 August 2013. The plea of manslaughter was accepted by the Crown on the basis of substantial impairment in circumstances where the applicant had previously been charged with murder and he was found to have been suffering from a schizophrenic illness at the time of the offence. He was initially found unfit to stand trial. However, at a subsequent fitness hearing he was found fit to be tried. On 16 May 2017 he was sentenced to imprisonment for seven years with a non-parole period of four years: R v Kaddour; R v Azar [2017] NSWSC 586.
2. He was released to parole on 18 December 2017, the date on which he first became eligible for parole. On 4 June 2018 he was charged with destroying or damaging property, being his sister's car, after an argument with another of his sisters. He mistakenly damaged the wrong car. He was granted bail.
3. Thereafter, he was charged with a number of offences committed on 14 June 2018 whilst on bail for the earlier offence. Those offences were stalk/intimidate intending to cause fear of physical harm, assaulting an officer and resisting an officer in the execution of their duty, common assault, destroy or damage property, and being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence. He was returned to custody when his parole was revoked on 14 June 2018.
4. He was sentenced for the offences committed whilst on parole. Although that sentence expired prior to the parole period for the manslaughter offence, the Parole Authority refused to release him until his sentence for manslaughter expired on 18 December 2020.
5. On 16 December 2020 Hoeben CJ at CL ordered that he be subject to an Interim Supervision Order (ISO) commencing 18 December 2020: State of New South Wales v Azar (Preliminary) [2020] NSWSC 1807. That ISO was renewed on 14 January 2021 for 28 days expiring 11 February 2021.
6. After a number of verbal altercations with his DSO and other employees of Community Corrections, the applicant was arrested and charged with failing to comply with a condition of his ISO, which was a written direction not to engage in any behaviour which would intimidate or threaten Corrective Services NSW staff. Such behaviour was to include swearing or using derogatory or abusive comments. The offence carries a maximum penalty of 5 years' imprisonment, but it can be dealt with by the Local Court where the maximum penalty is 2 years' imprisonment.