Former nightclub owner spared jail over cocaine supply
Angus Robert Michael Cattanach pleaded guilty on Tuesday in Brisbane Supreme Court to six counts of supplying drugs and one of drug possession.
Justice Declan Kelly heard Cattanach had become involved with members of a drug trafficking ring but was not accused of being part of their operations.
Cattanach stood in the dock with tears in his eyes as Justice Kelly said he accepted the 44-year-old "regretted every decision he made" during a period of his life when he was addicted to cocaine.
Crown prosecutor Luke Smoothy said Cattanach's offending was discovered through police surveillance of the drug syndicate in the inner-Brisbane suburb of Spring Hill over six months to July 2022.
"It was through (Cattanach's) association with those people he was able to access dangerous drugs and it was what has ultimately led him to be before this court," Mr Smoothy said.
"In total he was identified supplying a dangerous drug on six occasions. The seriousness of these supplies varies."
Justice Kelly heard Cattanach at times supplied 3.5 grams of cocaine, six MDMA tablets and an unknown quantity of cannabis.
Police found Cattanach in possession of just under 24.5g of a substance that contained nearly 5.4g of pure cocaine on December 4, 2021.
He was issued with a notice to appear in court but that was not enough to detach himself from the syndicate, Mr Smoothy said.
Defence barrister Martin Longhurst said Cattanach had gone through drug rehabilitation with multiple clean test results.
"He has received media attention for drug trafficking charges that have been discontinued ... there is direct comment in that article from police officers speaking about my client's alleged involvement as one of the people in charge of the syndicate," Mr Longhurst said.
"That article is still in print whenever you Google my client's name, on the front page ... that will hang over his head longer than the sentence."
Mr Longhurst said Cattanach was now working in the construction industry.
Justice Kelly said he accepted Cattanach's affidavit that he was deeply ashamed and embarrassed and his first three-day stint in jail had been a "horrific experience".
"You were surrounded by and exposed to drugs during your time in the nightlife industry but it was never something you engaged in while working," he said.
"You said that changed when your personal life started to unravel and you at first began using cocaine just occasionally and it quickly became a regular occurrence."
Justice Kelly said supplying a highly addictive drug into the community did damage to users along with their friends and family and must be condemned.
Cattanach was sentenced to two years' imprisonment but ordered to be released on parole immediately.
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ABC News
7 minutes ago
- ABC News
Do class actions really deliver justice?
Sam Hawley: On average, there's a class action launched in Australia every week. But do they really help bring justice to groups of Australians exposed to wrongdoing? Today, Anne Connolly on her Four Corners investigation into the class action traps leaving victims short-changed and lawyers richer. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily. Sam Hawley: Anne, in Australia, class actions have become pretty common, haven't they? It's a really important way to address injustices in this country. Anne Connolly: Well, yes, that's what class actions are designed to do. And I mean, when there were some really major catastrophes, such as the Victorian bushfires, the Queensland floods, class actions were taken to get some money back for those people. News report: Property owners around Horsham in Victoria have banded together to bring the first class action arising from the Black Saturday bushfires. Anne Connolly: Same with the pelvic mesh issue against Johnson & Johnson. News report: The federal court found Johnson & Johnson had been negligent and driven by commercial interest and ordered them to pay compensation. Anne Connolly: There's many, and they're very varied. Sam Hawley: Yeah, and you found during your Four Corners investigation, this is a billion dollar industry, but it's not always in favour of the individual victims. So to explain this further, why don't we look at a recent case, Anne, a legal fight between more than 8,000 Australian taxi drivers and Uber. Anne Connolly: Well, I mean, I think most people remember when Uber entered the market, obviously the taxi industry was absolutely decimated. They just couldn't compete any longer. One of the taxi owners I spoke to is a man called Stephen Lacaze. He said he had a licence in Queensland, which was at the time valued at about half a million dollars. It went to being virtually worthless once Uber came along. Stephen Lacaze, taxi owner: Oh, it was devastating. People virtually went into shock. Anne Connolly: So when Maurice Blackburn, which is one of the biggest class action firms in Australia, came along and proposed a class action, he was very keen to sign up. Stephen Lacaze, taxi owner: We were friendless. And here comes Maurice Blackburn with their Bradman-like batting averages, and their 'we fight for fair' banner, and we're there with bells on. Sam Hawley: OK, so Stephen was keen to fight this. Maurice Blackburn lawyers take it on, and they get a third party, a litigation funder, to pay the costs. Just explain how that works. Anne Connolly: Yeah, so what happens is Maurice Blackburn doesn't want to go this alone. So what they do is they engage somebody called a litigation funder. And litigation funders, they pay the lawyers' fees, they support them, and if they lose, they pay all of the costs, so there is some risk. But in return for taking that risk, they want a percentage of any payout that they win. So in this case, with Maurice Blackburn, they had a partnership with an offshore firm called Harbour Litigation Funding, which is actually registered in the Cayman Islands. It's a tax haven, and there's quite a few litigation funders in tax havens. Under this deal, they said, we want 30% of the proceeds. And Stephen signed up for that, as did most of the taxi drivers. Stephen said he did that because he thought they were going to get a payout worth billions because that's how much they'd lost. Sam Hawley: So in this case, Maurice Blackburn, the law firm, ends up settling this class action. So just tell me what happens then. Are the taxi drivers elated about this? Anne Connolly: Well, the night before the trial was due to start in March last year, Maurice Blackburn brokered a deal with Uber. That would be that Uber would pay $272 million in compensation. Now, once Harbour took its commission, that came out at $81.5 million. Maurice Blackburn took its legal costs, which came to $39 million. It means that the drivers were left with just over half the payout. Now, we don't know what individual taxi drivers will get. Stephen Lacaze believes he'll get about $20,000 once all of these fees and commissions come out of his payment, which he says is nowhere near what he lost. Sam Hawley: What did Maurice Blackburn have to say about that? Anne Connolly: They said the federal court had approved the settlement as fair and reasonable, and Harbour, the funder, said that the case was long-running and there were significant risks. Sam Hawley: Hmm, OK. So, Anne, that's the case of the taxi drivers against Uber, and we're going to talk about another really concerning case in a moment. But before we do, let's just look at the system more deeply. The worry here is that the whole class action system is set up to make profits for the law firms and the funders, but not deliver the justice to the victims, right? Anne Connolly: Well, there's some people who are concerned about that. I mean, the lawyers and the funders will say, without us, people would get nothing. The problem is that what's happening now is most people think a class action begins with a group of victims, but that's not really the case anymore. Now everything has changed because litigation funders have now entered the Australian market. So what happens is, it's the law firms and the litigation funders getting together and seeing, what are these issues that we could launch a class action on so that they can make money and then they can sign up the group members? So the concern is, are they really seeking justice for people or are they actually just finding a business opportunity so that they can make as much profit as they possibly can? Sam Hawley: Anne, let's now look at another case where the victims are left with, in comparison, petty change. Just tell me about Minnie McDonald. Anne Connolly: So Minnie McDonald is a woman in her 90s. She lives in Alice Springs and she was approached by Shine lawyers to become what's called the lead plaintiff in a class action in the Northern Territory for stolen wages of Indigenous workers who worked on cattle stations and missions for little or no money. Minnie McDonald, lead plaintiff: No shoes, get up in the morning, go to work. Come back afternoon, cold. Anne Connolly: So this case relates to the treatment of people like Minnie who, along with a lot of other... ..thousands of other Aboriginal men, women and children worked for little or no pay between the 1930s and the 1970s. Look, I just think, you know, one of the things I want to say about this is if ever there was a class action needed, perhaps it was in this particular case. I mean, there's questions about why the governments didn't just actually pay people what they deserved instead of being forced to court and forced to pay out compensation. But in any case, what Shine says and what the litigation funder says is we were doing our very best to get right a particular historical injustice. Sam Hawley: So the law firm Shine takes on this class action along with the litigation funder, Litigation Lending Services, and Minnie becomes the lead plaintiff. But the thing is, Anne, we know with legal cases, there's a lot of paperwork and Minnie had to sign a lot of that and she can't read or write. Anne Connolly: That's right, she can't read or write. So Minnie had her granddaughter Elizabeth to help her. However, Elizabeth does say, you know, it was complicated. It was difficult to understand at times. So Minnie did sign one document which said that Shine's costs had increased by $10 million and she signed off on that. I asked her about it and I asked her granddaughter if they remembered it. They didn't. I asked Shine, did they check that Minnie had the capacity to understand the complex legal and financial issues around class actions? They said being unable to read or write is no indication of intelligence and that they had an Indigenous barrister who helped to cross these cultural barriers and explain the process to them. Sam Hawley: So tell me what ended up happening with the case. Anne Connolly: So there were two class actions in WA and the NT and they both settled. So they didn't go to court. In Western Australia, there was a settlement for $180 million. In the Northern Territory, it was $200 million. Which sounds, you know, really positive. But what has to come out of that are the legal costs and the commission for the litigation funder. So they're not going to end up with that much. They'll end up with at least $10,000 and some will end up with more than that. Minnie McDonald, lead plaintiff: So somebody might... get a car and just take me for a picnic somewhere, you know, have a feed. But... I didn't get enough. Anne Connolly: You didn't get enough to buy a car? Minnie McDonald, lead plaintiff: Yeah, yeah. Nothing. Not enough. Anne Connolly: On the other hand, what's happened is Shine Lawyers is going to get about $30 million for its work. And the funder, Litigation Lending Services, they will take a commission of about $57 million. Sam Hawley: And you've had a really good look, haven't you, also, at the amount the law firm Shine was actually charging. Anne Connolly: Well, that's very interesting because Shine was roundly criticised in both WA and Northern Territory courts by the judges there. In one instance, Shine was charging for law clerks, charging them out at $375 an hour, even though many of them were unqualified uni students. They hired at least a dozen barristers that cost almost $3.5 million. One of those barristers charges almost $5,000 an hour. So, you know, the legal costs are the things that's really interesting. Sam Hawley: All right. So, Anne, the law firms and the funds are making a lot of money from these class actions in many cases. They do argue, as you mentioned, that they're actually giving people a chance to have these cases heard. What has Shine told you? Anne Connolly: Well, Shine said we were the only ones who were willing to take this on. We have given Aboriginal workers a chance to tell their stories. They've received compensation and they're being acknowledged for the historical injustices that they've suffered. And they said that these cases require experienced and well-resourced lawyers. And Litigation Lending Services, they said that they're proud of their involvement and that their commission was lower than the standard market rates because they wanted to reflect the social justice nature of these claims. Sam Hawley: And you spoke to the head of the Association of Litigation Funders. So this is a group that represents the firms that financially back these class actions, the funds. Its head is John Walker. So what's he had to say? Anne Connolly: Well, he said, look, you know, this is a market. This is a financial market that they operate in. They're trying to get some justice for people, but at the same time they're trying to make a profit and they don't shy away from that. John Walker, Association of Litigation Funders : We underwrite the project. We'll pay everybody if we lose, but in return, if we win, then we get a share of the recovery. We don't see it as gambling. We see it as investing. It's a market, and I don't step away from that. Anne Connolly: He essentially says, look, what we're doing is we're trying to correct the bad behaviour. Even if these class members are not getting enormous sums, it's sending a message to the big end of town that you can't operate in this way any longer. John Walker, Association of Litigation Funders : I'm absolutely proud of what's happened with class actions in Australia. They're absolutely essential to create accountability in respect of the big companies and governments. Sam Hawley: But, Anne, it does sound like a system that's not really working as it should. That is for the everyday people who need it. Anne Connolly: Well, I think what happens is a lot of people look at a class action sum and they believe that the sum that's been publicised is what people are getting. They don't realise that up to half of it can disappear in fees and commissions. The other point being the only class actions that actually get funded and get run are those that turn a profit. So when you're talking about others that might be very worthy, they won't get up if the bottom line doesn't look good. I think the problem arises when you're talking about people who have really suffered, such as these Aboriginal workers in the stolen wages cases who thought that they were going to get some proper compensation and what they're getting is simply a fraction of what they really deserve. And when they do see litigation funders and lawyers walking away with tens of millions of dollars, it makes it difficult for them to understand and sometimes it can feel like they've been exploited all over again. Sam Hawley: Anne Connolly is an investigative reporter with the ABC. You can see her Four Corners report on ABC TV tonight at 8.30pm or you can catch it on iView. This episode was produced by Sydney Pead. Audio production by Sam Dunn. Our supervising producer is David Coady. I'm Sam Hawley. Thanks for listening.
SBS Australia
a day ago
- SBS Australia
‘We are not animals or savages': Uncle Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves' message at Garma Festival
Sitting amid a backdrop of stringy bark forest, Warlpiri Elder Uncle Ned Hargraves has travelled from the red centre to Northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory with a message for the NT Government. Surrounded by the sacred grounds known to the Yolŋu people as Gulkula, Mr Hargraves reflects on the failures of the NT justice system, failures he has endured firsthand. 'Right now we are living in fear; all our children are living in fear,' the senior Warlpiri man told NITV. 'We want to live with our children, with our generations to come.' His words carry the weight of personal experience: the deaths in custody of two of his jaja – Warlpiri for grandson. In 2019, Warlpiri Luritja teenager Kumanjayi Walker died during an attempted arrest in his home community of Yuendumu by then Constable Zachary Rolfe who has since been acquitted of all related charges. Mr Walker was 19 years old, and was shot three times at close range under circumstances where there were no emergency health services present in Yuendumu. The NT Government and NT Police are yet to commit to any of the 32 recommendations handed down in the findings of the coronial inquest into Kumanjayi Walker's death. The pain of that event was brought horrifically back in May this year, after 24-year-old Kumanjayi White passed away while being detained by two undercover officers at a supermarket in Alice Springs. Mr White, who had a disability on was a guardianship order, was living in Alice Springs because he needed a level of care not available on Country in Yuendumu. Mr Hargraves and the Warlpiri community have maintained calls for the CCTV vision of the incident to be released and for the investigation into his passing to be independent of police. Despite his calls being echoed across the nation, and even reiterated by the federal Minister for Indigenous Australians, it has fallen on deaf ears. 'The community is not happy,' Mr Hargraves said. 'We are feeling very, very angry of what is not [being] done." 'Shame on you Northern Territory Government' This week the Northern Territory government introduced a sweeping youth justice overhaul, reviving the use of the formerly banned spithoods, and abolishing the principle that detention be a last resort. It builds on a 'tough on crime' policy agenda including the tightening of bail laws they say are now the 'toughest in the country' and becoming the first jurisdiction in the country to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 10 two years after the NT Labor government legislated raising it to 14. 'Shame on you Northern Territory Government, shame on you,' Mr Hargraves said. In the Northern Territory around 99 per cent of incarcerated youth and more than 80 per cent of incarcerated adults are Indigenous. Since coming to power in August last year the NT Government has seen 20 per cent increase to the overall prison population, around 50 per cent of those are on remand awaiting sentencing. The Productivity Commission's latest report into the Closing the Gap measures revealed steadily worsening rates of Ingenous youth incarceration in the NT over several years. In a statement today the NT Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby said the 'government's strong reforms are working' before referencing worsening remand rates. Those include over 3300 people refused bail, with remand numbers up 40 per cent. The average wait time on remand is down by 7 per cent from last year, now averaging 136 days. Mr Hargraves appeared frustrated by the latest NT Government legislation and the apparent boasting about a justice system in crisis. His message for the NT Government is clear. 'You have to change your attitude, change the way you do things,' Mr Hargraves said. 'It's unfair for us, for Yapa (Indigenous people) to live like this.' 'The only think that I'd see is why they are doing it is because Blackfullas, we are going to suffer.' 'We are not animals or savages. We want to live in a freedom.' A message of hope from the Garma Festival Myatili Marika is a Yolngu woman based in North East Arnhem Land and a Traditional Owner of the Rirratjingu clan. In a powerful address to the Garma forum, Myatili Marika spoke of the hope her communities hold despite the continued hurt. 'Every day we deal with death and trauma and the overwhelming grief that comes with it,' Ms Marika said while addressing the forum on Saturday morning. 'The relentlessness of these forces in our communities are something that few people can imagine, let alone understand.' 'And yet we remain strong, determined, hopeful, patient in the that things will be better now and for future generations.'
The Advertiser
3 days ago
- The Advertiser
Son of a gun: Chopper Read's son gets more jail time for armed invasion
The son of notorious criminal "Chopper Read" has been sentenced to more jail time for breaking into a woman's unit and threatening her with a gun. Charles Vincent Read, 25, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court in Hobart to two counts of aggravated burglary and one count of possessing a firearm in contravention of a prohibition order. In July, 2023, the woman was alone at her rented unit. Her landlord lived upstairs and was home at the time. Read, carrying a shotgun, and another man, armed with a machete, forced the front door of the property. Once inside the residence, Read shot into a wall with the sound waking the woman and her landlord upstairs. Read and the other male then entered the complainant's bedroom, where she was lying in bed. They began yelling at her, calling her a "f---ing slut" and asking her where a person by the name of "Crystal" was. The other male searched through the complainant's room while Read brandished the shotgun, waving it around and pointing it at the complainant. Read told the woman, "I should bash you. I should kill you." Both men then left the residence. Read was later arrested. The court heard that while Read's mother had been a good influence on him, his father was a "notorious criminal" and his life had been impacted by that fact. "He died in 2014, but not before introducing you to a high-level criminal lifestyle," the court heard in sentencing. "You have been abusing alcohol and various illicit drugs since you were young, including methylamphetamine, heroin, cannabis and MDMA." Justice Escourt said it was likely Read would be moved to minimum security and have the benefit of a drug and alcohol counselling program. He is currently working every day at the prison as a yardsman and a landscaper. Read was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, to start at the end of any sentence he is currently serving. The last 12 months of that sentence were suspended on condition that he commit no offence punishable by imprisonment for a period of 12 months after his release from prison. Read will not to be eligible for parole until he has served half of the custodial portion of my sentence. The son of notorious criminal "Chopper Read" has been sentenced to more jail time for breaking into a woman's unit and threatening her with a gun. Charles Vincent Read, 25, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court in Hobart to two counts of aggravated burglary and one count of possessing a firearm in contravention of a prohibition order. In July, 2023, the woman was alone at her rented unit. Her landlord lived upstairs and was home at the time. Read, carrying a shotgun, and another man, armed with a machete, forced the front door of the property. Once inside the residence, Read shot into a wall with the sound waking the woman and her landlord upstairs. Read and the other male then entered the complainant's bedroom, where she was lying in bed. They began yelling at her, calling her a "f---ing slut" and asking her where a person by the name of "Crystal" was. The other male searched through the complainant's room while Read brandished the shotgun, waving it around and pointing it at the complainant. Read told the woman, "I should bash you. I should kill you." Both men then left the residence. Read was later arrested. The court heard that while Read's mother had been a good influence on him, his father was a "notorious criminal" and his life had been impacted by that fact. "He died in 2014, but not before introducing you to a high-level criminal lifestyle," the court heard in sentencing. "You have been abusing alcohol and various illicit drugs since you were young, including methylamphetamine, heroin, cannabis and MDMA." Justice Escourt said it was likely Read would be moved to minimum security and have the benefit of a drug and alcohol counselling program. He is currently working every day at the prison as a yardsman and a landscaper. Read was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, to start at the end of any sentence he is currently serving. The last 12 months of that sentence were suspended on condition that he commit no offence punishable by imprisonment for a period of 12 months after his release from prison. Read will not to be eligible for parole until he has served half of the custodial portion of my sentence. The son of notorious criminal "Chopper Read" has been sentenced to more jail time for breaking into a woman's unit and threatening her with a gun. Charles Vincent Read, 25, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court in Hobart to two counts of aggravated burglary and one count of possessing a firearm in contravention of a prohibition order. In July, 2023, the woman was alone at her rented unit. Her landlord lived upstairs and was home at the time. Read, carrying a shotgun, and another man, armed with a machete, forced the front door of the property. Once inside the residence, Read shot into a wall with the sound waking the woman and her landlord upstairs. Read and the other male then entered the complainant's bedroom, where she was lying in bed. They began yelling at her, calling her a "f---ing slut" and asking her where a person by the name of "Crystal" was. The other male searched through the complainant's room while Read brandished the shotgun, waving it around and pointing it at the complainant. Read told the woman, "I should bash you. I should kill you." Both men then left the residence. Read was later arrested. The court heard that while Read's mother had been a good influence on him, his father was a "notorious criminal" and his life had been impacted by that fact. "He died in 2014, but not before introducing you to a high-level criminal lifestyle," the court heard in sentencing. "You have been abusing alcohol and various illicit drugs since you were young, including methylamphetamine, heroin, cannabis and MDMA." Justice Escourt said it was likely Read would be moved to minimum security and have the benefit of a drug and alcohol counselling program. He is currently working every day at the prison as a yardsman and a landscaper. Read was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, to start at the end of any sentence he is currently serving. The last 12 months of that sentence were suspended on condition that he commit no offence punishable by imprisonment for a period of 12 months after his release from prison. Read will not to be eligible for parole until he has served half of the custodial portion of my sentence. The son of notorious criminal "Chopper Read" has been sentenced to more jail time for breaking into a woman's unit and threatening her with a gun. Charles Vincent Read, 25, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court in Hobart to two counts of aggravated burglary and one count of possessing a firearm in contravention of a prohibition order. In July, 2023, the woman was alone at her rented unit. Her landlord lived upstairs and was home at the time. Read, carrying a shotgun, and another man, armed with a machete, forced the front door of the property. Once inside the residence, Read shot into a wall with the sound waking the woman and her landlord upstairs. Read and the other male then entered the complainant's bedroom, where she was lying in bed. They began yelling at her, calling her a "f---ing slut" and asking her where a person by the name of "Crystal" was. The other male searched through the complainant's room while Read brandished the shotgun, waving it around and pointing it at the complainant. Read told the woman, "I should bash you. I should kill you." Both men then left the residence. Read was later arrested. The court heard that while Read's mother had been a good influence on him, his father was a "notorious criminal" and his life had been impacted by that fact. "He died in 2014, but not before introducing you to a high-level criminal lifestyle," the court heard in sentencing. "You have been abusing alcohol and various illicit drugs since you were young, including methylamphetamine, heroin, cannabis and MDMA." Justice Escourt said it was likely Read would be moved to minimum security and have the benefit of a drug and alcohol counselling program. He is currently working every day at the prison as a yardsman and a landscaper. Read was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, to start at the end of any sentence he is currently serving. The last 12 months of that sentence were suspended on condition that he commit no offence punishable by imprisonment for a period of 12 months after his release from prison. Read will not to be eligible for parole until he has served half of the custodial portion of my sentence.
