According to one source book, Chutzpah is what is required of a child who has murdered both their parents to plead for leniency from a judge because they are an orphan.
How about a drug user that found themselves disgraced? Might they sue for damages because they were mistaken for a drug dealer?
Howard adviser sues over arrest
ReplyDeleteBy Kara Lawrence
A FORMER adviser to the Prime Minister arrested during a cocaine bust last year is seeking up to $750,000 for the trauma of her arrest.
Iktimal Hage-Ali, the young Muslim role model forced to relinquish her title of NSW Young Australian of the Year, is suing the State of NSW for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
The 22-year-old alleges she was wrongly apprehended and detained by Middle Eastern Crime Squad officers when they moved to shut down an alleged cocaine racket in Sydney's southwest late last year.
The arrest occurred eight days before Ms Hage-Ali - a member of Prime Minister John Howard's Muslim Community Reference Group - was named NSW Young Australian of the year by Governor Marie Bashir.
While Ms Hage-Ali was arrested on suspicion of being a drug supplier, she was released without charge after admitting in a police interview the cocaine she obtained was for her personal use.
Police could have charged her with cocaine possession but used their discretion to release her without charge.
When initially contacted by The Daily Telegraph after her arrest, Ms Hage-Ali denied it had occurred, or that she had any involvement or links to alleged drug suppliers.
"If it is true, why hasn't it come out?" she said. "I am a high-profile person, I have no idea why people would be saying this."
Through her lawyer, she emphatically denied she was involved in supplying drugs.
The prominent youth leader, who had worked as a personal assistant in the NSW Attorney-General's Department, then admitted to exercising "poor judgement" and having made
"some mistakes".
She decided to regretfully hand back her NSW Young Australian of the Year award because of the damaging publicity.
However, she refused to answer questions about whether she was a cocaine user, claiming she did not want to put herself in contempt of court.
Ms Hage-Ali lodged the civil action in the District Court on May 9.
Her statement of claim seeks unspecified damages for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment for a period of about two hours on November 22 last year.
That was the day she was arrested and handcuffed at her Punchbowl home by detectives before being taken to Bankstown police station for questioning.
The statement of claim names two police officers from the Middle Eastern Crime Squad as being involved, as well as "officers whose name is not known to plaintiff".
The State of NSW is named as the sole defendant.
She sought aggravated and punitive damages plus additional interest and costs.
While a specific amount is not named, a claim of up to $750,000 can be awarded in the District Court.