ABC News today;
North Queensland man's charges of interfering with planes, sabotage of planes dropped in Supreme Court
A North Queensland pilot accused of tampering with his rivals' fuel tanks has had charges of interfering with planes and associated sabotage of planes dropped in a Supreme Court sitting in Mount Isa.
Key points:
- Charges against former pilot Josh Hoch of tampering with the fuel tanks of a plane have been dropped in court
- The jury was dismissed after one week of a trial expected to last for three
- The prosecution dropped the case as it was officially concluded there was not sufficient evidence to prove it was Josh Hoch who had committed the alleged acts
Josh Hoch was 31 when he was charged with numerous offences including plane tampering, fraud, falsification of documents and other aircraft related offences in 2017.
Today Justice James Henry dismissed the jury after one week of the trial, which was expected to last three weeks.
Justice Henry told the jury in the first five minutes of today's sitting that the Crown would not continue to prosecute the charges relating to interfering with planes and associated sabotage.
"The short version is the case has been dropped," Justice Henry said.
He told the jury that because they had been sitting on the case for a week, he would explain the particulars of the change.
Three 'critical layers' in case
Justice Henry outlined three "critical layers" of the case which the jury had been tasked to decide upon.
The first was if the contaminants in the fuel tanks had been there as the result of human intervention, the second was if it was done as a deliberate act of sabotage, and the third was if it had been Josh Hoch who had committed the alleged acts.
Mr Henry said it was the third that "was always the prosecution's real challenge" and that they also had to prove motive, opportunity and that he had knowledge that only the offender would know.
"Perhaps unsurprisingly, the prosecution put up the white flag and has dropped the case," Justice Henry said.
"It has been officially concluded, it was not sufficient to pursue a case."
Mr Hoch has further charges proceeding in the District and Magistrates courts.
Link;
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-...otage/13226466