Monday, January 23, 2012

Niqab Row Woman Loses Bid for Costs

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: The woman at the centre of the niqab row has lost her bid for NSW Police to pay her legal costs on the grounds that she was improperly prosecuted.

In June last year Carnita Matthews, 47, successfully appealed against her conviction and six-month jail sentence for knowingly making a false complaint.

The charge was in relation to a now infamous incident in June 2010 when she was stopped by a highway patrol officer at Woodbine, in south-west Sydney.

It was alleged that Ms Matthews later claimed in a statutory declaration that, after she refused to remove her veil fully for the purposes of identification, the officer tried to remove it himself.

This declaration was later found to be false, and she was charged.

However, a judge later found there was no evidence the statutory declaration had been made by Ms Matthews or even that it was knowingly false.

She then claimed that the entire prosecution was improper and unreasonable and demanded that NSW Police pay her legal costs.

That claim was rejected by Judge Clive Jeffreys in the Downing Centre District Court today. » | Paul Bibby | Monday, January 23, 2012