A man who had violence charges against him dropped on the day of his hearing will receive a payout from the taxpayer nearly two years after an alleged brawl and stabbing took place in Windang.
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A Wollongong magistrate found the Director of Public Prosecutions proceeded to a hearing with no reasonable prospects of a successful prosecution and ordered the public prosecutor cover the man's legal costs.
Mustapha Mohammad was charged with affray and reckless wounding in company after a police investigation into a brawl and stabbing in Edith Lacey Park, Windang in 2020.
On November 30 that year Onur Deniz and Bilal Deniz were involved in a melee captured on CCTV and seen by a number of witnesses.
According to eyewitnesses, Onur Deniz knocked one man wearing an army camouflage jacket to the ground before walking away.
A man wearing a red long sleeve shirt followed Onur Deniz and then stabbed him in the right side of the back, holding the knife in his left hand, according to the witness.
When police later interviewed Onur Deniz he identified a man by the name of "Moose" as the man who stabbed him.
Onur Deniz said he had never met the man before but was "pretty sure" that "Moose" was the brother of a man who Onur Deniz had worked for.
On this evidence and others, including a statement from Bilal Deniz and a picture of Mr Mohammad writing with his left hand, police and the DPP proceeded to arrest and charge Mr Mohammad and begin the court process in June 2021.
In a later photo identification procedure, Bilal Deniz identified Mr Mohammad but when he was asked what Mr Mohammad did that night, he told police, "I don't know but he was there".
Onur Deniz also participated in a similar identification exercise but was unable to identify Mr Mohammad as the person who stabbed him.
Following this, the matter was listed for a two-day hearing in September this year but, on the day the hearing was due to begin, the DPP dropped both charges and the case was dismissed.
Mr Mohammad's legal team brought an application for their costs to be covered by the DPP.
While it is up to the magistrate's discretion, costs can be awarded if a magistrate finds there is no reasonable prospect of a matter's success.
Magistrate Michael O'Brien found that in this matter, while it would "not be unreasonable" to conclude that Mr Mohammad was present when the incident took place, nothing further could be established.
"I am satisfied to the required standard that on the information then available to the officer in charge at the time the charge[s] was laid there was no reasonable prospects of success."
Mr O'Brien noted that CCTV was recorded from so far away it was impossible to make out Mr Mohammad in the group of people present.
"I am satisfied that the applicant has demonstrated that the proceedings ... were initiated without reasonable cause."
The final pay out will be determined at a later date.
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