Remember those two nurses at Sydney’s Bankstown Hospital – Ahmad “Rashad” Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh – who were stupid enough to brag online about their murderous intentions (and possibly murderous past) to an Israeli? Abu Lebdeh was charged with using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend, while Nadir was charged with the same as well as drug possession.
When I last wrote about them, I mentioned how their trial date had been set for August 31, they would be pleading not guilty, and the admissibility of the video would be a key part of their defence.
In a huge blow to the prosecution, last month the NSW District Court ruled the video inadmissible and excluded it from trial on the grounds it was recorded without consent.
Thankfully, sanity has now prevailed on appeal.
Video evidence previously ruled inadmissible will be allowed in the trial of two former Sydney nurses accused of making menacing comments about Israelis, following a Court of Appeal judgement.
Two former Bankstown Hospital nurses, Sarah Abu Lebdeh and Ahmad Rashad Nadir, have pleaded not guilty to using a carriage service to menace and harass, following a conversation with an Israeli influencer on the cam chat app Chatruletka in February last year.
Ms Abu Lebdeh has pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of threatening violence to a group, after allegedly making threats to Israeli patients during the chat.
Defence lawyers for the pair had argued the video chat itself should be excluded from the case because it was improperly obtained and breached privacy laws.
Last month, the District Court of NSW ruled in their favour.
But prosecutors took the matter to the Court of Appeal, which on Friday overturned that decision, meaning the unedited video is no longer inadmissible evidence.
Reasons for the judgement have been handed to the parties to consider what parts should be subject to suppression or non-publication orders ahead of the trial.
They cannot be published until further order of the court.
But it is not all bad news for Ahmad Rashad Nadir. Regarding his drug possession charge, the morphine found in his locker has been ruled as inadmissible for evidence.
But let’s be real, he is going to need something a heck of a lot stronger than morphine. The other charges carry with them a penalty of up to five years imprisonment. Given the admissibility of the key video evidence, I would suggest things are looking rather grim for the ex-nurse.
Perhaps not as grim as grim reaper grim, but likely as grim as better-not-drop-the-soap-in-the-shower grim.
