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Challenge to anti-fortress laws thrown out
SEAN FEWSTER, COURT REPORTER
November 21, 2006 11:14am
Article from: The Advertiser
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THE first challenge to the Rann Government's anti-bikie
fortification laws has been declared "incompetent" and thrown out of
court.
The Full Court of the Supreme Court today ordered prominent Hell’s
Angels member Eugene Osenkowski’s appeal be struck out, and
dismissed his application for a review of the law.
The 60-year-old, who erected a steel cage around his Mt Pleasant
home, now faces having to pay the State Government’s legal bills.
Police, meanwhile, have the right to tear down the cage and remove
the house’s other security measures, including razor wire in the
roof, external steel doors and an internal manhole cover.
Mr Osenkowski’s home was the first to be the subject of the
anti-fortification laws, introduced by Premier Mike Rann in 2004.
In December, then-Chief Magistrate Kelvyn Prescott granted police
permission to remove fortifications around Mr Osenkowski’s home.
The bikie’s lawyers appealed the decision to the Full Court of the
Supreme Court, also seeking judicial review of the legislation
itself.
They argued the laws were unconstitutional and denied home owners
“natural justice”.
In a unanimous decision, the Full Court ruled those claims were
incompetent – meaning they failed to meet the standard needed for an
appeal.
Chief Justice John Doyle and Justices Magaret Nyland and Tim
Anderson ordered the case be struck out, and declined to review the
law.
Michael Abbott, QC, for Mr Osenkowski, asked the court not to award
costs against his client.
“This was a test case brought about by an ordinary citizen ... it
was a matter of public interest,” he said.
Solicitor-General Chris Kourakis, QC, said it was “doubtful there
was more than a handful of people” who would want to contest the
law.
The court adjourned the matter of costs to a later date.
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