Inquiry into Conviction of Phuong Ngo: Justice David Patten to Preside

A spokesman for the Supreme Court has today announced Chief Justice
Jim Spigelman has issued a direction for a review of Phuong Ngo's
conviction under Section 79 of the Crimes Appeal and Review Act of 2001.

A jury found that Mr Ngo planned and enlisted others to carry out the shooting.

Four
Corners recently aired a programme in which key evidence was questioned
by a number of experts, including an expert in corrosion and police
diving. The police diving expert stated that for police to have found a
gun within 20 minutes in the Parramatta River, they would have had to
have prior knowledge as to where it was. The corrosion expert stated
the gun had been exposed to water for much longer than stated by the
Crown.

A telecommunications expert stated that the phone tower
that received a call from Mr Ngo's phone placed him where he said he
was at that time, and not where the Crown claimed he was located.

Australian
National University legal academic Hugh Selby applied for the review
after 4 Corners showed misleading and circumstantial evidence was used
in the trial.

The Crown Prosecutor was Mark Tedeschi. A Google
search will show that questions were raised in Parliament about Mr
Tedeschi's conduct. This was the same prosecutor who helped secure the
wrongful conviction of the Hilton Bombers.

Mr Ngo has been in
Supermax, Goulburn for ten years, and was never to be released. His
many applications for a judicial review have been refused.

Mr
Ngo's long-time supporter Peter Breen, formerly an Upper House M.P., is
now his lawyer. He is very concerned about the N.S.W. Crime
Commission's involvement in the case.

Mr Ngo was convicted for
his role in an alleged joint criminal enterprise. But the other two
alleged conspirators, Dao and Dinh, were found not guilty. This
also raises questions about the consistency of verdicts.

Quang
Dao maintains Phuong Ngo's innocence. "I know for sure that Mr
Ngo was not involved in that murder," he stated on 4 Corners.

Witnesses
in the trial of Mr Ngo admitted in later trials that they had lied.
Indemnities given to them by the Crime Commission which were
conditional on them telling the truth, were not revoked.

A
juror was willing to break the law by publicly commenting. He had
caused a hung jury in one of three trials of Phuong Ngo. He wrote in
his blog:

"To be fair to me, the Crown should now tell the country,
and the world, one positive thing about me - that I foiled a plan
to put an innocent man in jail for the rest of his life."

A
spokesman for Justice Spigelman said, "It seems that there is a
question as to part of the evidence in the proceedings leading to the
conviction of Phuong Ngo."

The inquiry is not a retrial or a public hearing, but a review by Justice David Patten alone.

There
is now some hope that this wrongful conviction will be overturned. It
also gives hope to many others who have been victims of the judicial
system in New South Wales.