Court proceedings against four people accused of a Peak Hill-based amphetamines racket have been transferred from Dubbo to Sydney.
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After hearing predictions that the trial of Angelo Paul Germano, John Germano, Wayne Clive Brown and Jenna Brodie could take between three and five months and that none of the witnesses were locals, Dubbo District Court judge James Black yesterday decided a change of venue was appropriate.
The group was charged on August 9 last year when NSW Crime Agencies detectives swooped on a house in Caswell Street, Peak Hill and allegedly discovered a drug laboratory and substances from which amphetamines with a potential street value of about $2 million could be produced.
The defendants, aged between 19 and 51, were committed to stand trial in Dubbo District Court earlier in the year, however the Sydney-based defence counsels for the Germanos and Ms Brodie applied to have the matter moved, prompting yesterday’s hearing.
When the hearing got under way, local solicitors Joanne Patten and Graham Lamond, who were acting as agents for the Sydney solicitors, tendered written material and made short submissions to the judge.
Ms Patten said publicity in local media following the arrests meant it would be impossible for the defendants to get a fair trial in Dubbo, while Mr Lamond told the court that the cell complex at Dubbo was not designed to hold people for the length of time the trial could take.
“Everything in this matter points to Sydney being the most sensible and logical place for this trial to be held,” Mr Lamond said.
While admitting that Sydney would logistically be a more convenient location to stage the trials, Prosecutor Rod Tulley opposed the application telling the court Dubbo was the appropriate venue because it was closer to where the alleged crimes were committed.
He asked that “the time-honoured traditional approach” of conducting trials where the crime allegedly occurred was adhered to.
Mr Tulley said there was “a fairly strong circumstantial case” against the defendants. In deciding to move the proceedings, Judge Black said he was “particularly influenced” by a statement which showed that witnesses in the case would come from Sydney and Melbourne, and not from the local area.
