Magistrate Jelena Popovic gives terror sympathiser crook "therapeutic jurisprudence and problem solving" - when what he really needs is gaol.
Thursday, 16 April 2015
In mid-January this year, the alleged terrorism sympathiser Khodr Moustafa TAHA appeared before Victoria's deputy chief magistrate Jelena Popovic charged with serious offences. He was back before Magistrate Popovic again today - here's why (from the Herald Sun)
The 35-year old brute came to police attention in December last year when he threatened officers over social media.
Police raided Taha’s Brunswick bungalow on January 2, confiscating a rifle bullet and three swords.
They also alleged child pornography was stored on his computer.
His tweets were targeted at Victoria Police, Joe Hockey, journalists and the Premier.
Taha also pleaded guilty to the attack on his mother in her own home, which left her head bruised.
He later said he wanted to kill her and hoped for Allah to her grant her “death in this world and the next.”
The Melbourne Magistrates’ Court heard Taha encouraged ISIS to cut off the heads of captives and expressed hope an Australian execution would take place.
Victoria Police e-crime experts alleged the computer owned by Taha, who was born in Australia but is of Lebanese heritage, contained material approving the actions of Iraqi death cult ISIS and the notorious terrorists Al-Qaeda.
The court heard that on December 14 last year, Taha posted a threatening tweet to the Victoria Police twitter feed.
He had previously posted intimidating images on the twitter feeds of politicians Joe Hockey and Julie Bishop and a comment on Channel 10 news anchor Hugh Riminton’s feed warning him that in NSW you could buy a gun for $50.
Each of the tweets was sent under a profile photo that depicted a skeleton armed with a sword, which police described as “The Angel of Death”.
“I’m going to hurt your officers,” the first tweet against police warned.
When Taha was interviewed by police he admitted to running the “Angel of Death” Twitter site and making threats to kill US President Barak Obama.
He told police a bullet found at his home was from a hunting trip 10 years earlier and that he bought two swords legally into the country from Bali.
The third sword was a gift, he claimed.
He denied possessing child porn, but allegedly admitted to seeing the content online.
Taha will return to court on May 14.
When Magistrate Popovic granted TAHA bail in January many Australians were outraged, including the Prime Minister Tony Abbot - here's a Fairfax report from 16 January this year:
The Prime Minister has said he can understand that people are "aghast" at the decision to grant bail to Khodr Moustafa Taha, who has been accused of threatening police and using social media to support terrorist group Islamic State.
"This is someone who appears to have a history of violence, a commitment to extremism and he has made explicit threats against the police," the Prime Minister told Fairfax Radio on Wednesday.
"It does seem a very, very questionable bit of judicial judgment – injudicious judgment by the judiciary. That's how it seems to me."
After he was bailed in mid-January, TAHA appeared before the same court in February - after that appearance he went outside to bash a photographer who displeased him - the Herald Sun again:
In February, Taha left Herald Sun photographer Yuri Kouzmin bloody and bruised after smashing his camera into his face.
Remarkably, Deputy Chief Magistrate Jelena Popovic applauded Taha for his good behaviour at his very next court appearance.
Ms Popovic made no mention of Taha’s assault on the photographer, who did not press charges.
Instead, she expressed sympathy over the media attention Taha had endured since being freed back into the community.
“It pains me to some degree that you have so much media attention,” she said at the time.
Moments before his latest attack, Ms Popovic agreed to relax the thug’s bail conditions from reporting seven days a week to just three.
Again she applauded him for his “excellent adherence to his bail conditions”.
Well today, TAHA was at it again. Moments after his bail conditions were eased, he took a cup of hot coffee, purposefully removed the plastic lid and threw it over a television reporter outside the Melbourne Magistrates' Court - watch for yourself.
This bloke is a disgrace - but you have to wonder at the message he's getting. He thumbs his nose at the system with impunity and the system (courtesy of Magistrate Popovic) congratulates him for his progress and sympathises with his discomfort.
We can all learn a little about Magistrate Popovic's attitude to crime and criminals from her own words in this paper she authored in 2008:
THE ART OF JUDGING
DEPUTY CHIEF MAGISTRATE JELENA POPOVIC*
Khodr Moustafa TAHA is probably blissfully unaware that he is the beneficiary of appearing before one of the architects of a new approach to Crime and Punishment, as Ms Popovic says in her paper, "Without knowing it, our Court had embarked on a course of therapeutic jurisprudence and problem-solving." Maybe it was therapeutic jurisprudence driving the smashed camera or the hot coffee, who knows?
Ms Popovic writes of doing her Masters at University, "The paper I researched for this subject was entitled ‘Complementing Conventional Law and Changing the Culture of the Judiciary".
The Victorian Government’s commitment to these approaches resulted in the pilot of the Court Integrated Services Program, known as ‘CISP’. The program is an integrated model of support and services provided at the pre-sentence stage primarily for people charged with criminal offences.
CISP is a pre-sentence option. It addresses the issues which have led to the defendant being brought to the attention of the police. CISP clients are not required to enter a plea of guilty to access the services, though in reality almost all CISP clients enter guilty pleas when their CISP episode is completed.
Successful participation on the CISP program not only advances positive behaviour change, it can also have an impact on the ultimate sentencing disposition of the sentencing magistrate or judge. That is, successful participation can provide the sentencing judge or magistrate with a greater range of sentencing options and can reduce the likelihood of the imposition of a prison sentence. The services and supervision provided by CISP are excellent. I would not be able to work effectively as a Magistrate without this program.
Here is a link to her paper, the first page is below: