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Terminally ill Hinch faces possible jail time
Radio broadcaster Derryn Hinch has this week lost his High Court appeal, which challenged the constitutional validity of Victorian laws with respect to the naming of serious sex offenders.The…
Lawyers Weekly
Radio broadcaster Derryn Hinch has this week lost his High Court appeal, which challenged the constitutional validity of Victorian laws with respect to the naming of serious sex offenders.
"I lost ... the news was as bad as it gets," Hinch stated on his website.
Hinch faces five years' jail and/or $60,000 in fines - an amount he said was "more than some real crims get".
Hinch applied to the High Court early last year to have his five charges, for the breach of suppression orders under Victoria's Serious Sex Offenders Monitoring Act, set aside.
His challenge was based on various constitutional issues, including the argument that the Victorian laws are contrary to the constitution's implied freedom of speech.
The public interest formed a major premise of his case, with Hinch arguing that the community's right to know who they are living next to should be considered in such cases.
The High Court challenge stemmed from a rally held by Hinch on the steps of Parliament three years ago as part of his "Name Them and Shame Them" campaign, supported by a petition with more than 7000 signatures.
As reported by The Australian, Hinch, who is suffering from liver cancer, was unable to attend the judgment in Canberra and told his radio listeners just one day before the decision was made that he may have as little as eight months to live as a result of his battle with cancer.
"I now go back to the Magistrates Court for sentencing," said the 67-year-old. "I intend to represent myself at that hearing. I know there is a legal saying that any man who defends himself has a fool for a client, but I am happy to take that risk.
"If I am jailed I will only ask, because of my health, that it is at a prison close to Melbourne because I am on transplant alert."
