Hyde Park rioter Ahmed Elomar needs a brain check, court hears

 

Hyde Park rioter Ahmed Elomar needs a brain check, court hears

News.com.au Feburary 04,2014

Ahmed Elomar, a former champion boxer, pleaded guilty to attacking a police officer with a pole during the September 2012 riots that were sparked by the controversial YouTube clip The Innocence of Muslims.

He is still waiting to be sentenced as his defence team, led by Greg James QC, have applied to have the case put off until a MRI scan can be done to reveal the extent of his brain injuries.

Mr James told the District Court he has been waiting for more than a year for the procedure, and that on the eve he was due to have it done he was moved between jails and not provided with the security to take him to the hospital.

"The day before a scheduled appointment (we were told) he had been moved to Parklea (prison) and for security reasons they weren't prepared to provide the escorts," Mr James said. "There's nothing to suggest he won't be moved (locations) again."

The court has been told the 30-year-old has an IQ between 58 and 60, and suffered numerous head injuries during his boxing career.

The charge of recklessly wounding a police officer can carry a maximum sentence of 14 years but Elomar, the last of the rioters before the courts, will receive a discount for pleading guilty before trial.

The attack left Senior Constable Jason Blanchard bleeding from the head and Elomar's makeshift weapon bent out of shape.

Elomar has been the only one of the group to be held in custody since the riot despite numerous bids for bail. In one, made to the Supreme Court last year, his lawyers said he was suffering from early-onset dementia as a result of boxing injuries and this made him "susceptible to outside influence" but the prosecution blasted Elomar's claims he believed the protest would be "peaceful", arguing he had armed himself with the 2m pole and a full-face balaclava, which he was later seen wearing on television footage.

All of the other men charged after the riot have all been dealt with by the courts, with two jailed.

Mr James told the court his client has needed the MRI for months, and was prepared to privately cover the cost of the procedure, but had been knocked back on at least one occasion by Corrective Services. The scan will take one day, and is expected to be used by Elomar's counsel in preparing submissions for what sentence he should receive.

The court was also told during a hearing last year that Elomar suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after an incident in which he was kidnapped in Lebanon, but prosecutors said the evidence before the court did not support the claim.

Judge Donna Woodburne formally vacated the date for his sentencing hearing, with the case to be rescheduled once the scan is