WITH no jury trials, no defended hearings and no in-person appearances, the COVID-19 lockdown has slowed the wheels of justice in the Hunter.
And on Wednesday in Newcastle District Court, the restrictions claimed another case. Mitchell Neil Sullivan, 34, Corey Hicks, 23, Adam Shortland, 19, and Alexandra Dwyer, 25, were expected to be sentenced after the group pleaded guilty to luring a man, 48, looking for sex on popular online classifieds website into a dating app trap, catching him with his pants down when they stormed into his house at Cardiff and struck him over the head with a large sword.
Hicks, Shortland and Dwyer, who breached her bail in May, are all behind bars and could have been sentenced on Wednesday.
But Sullivan, who drove the group to and from the house, is on conditional bail, was complying with the lockdown at home, and under the NSW District Court guidelines not allowed to appear in court in person.
The trio in jail could still have been dealt with on Wednesday, but Judge Roy Ellis said the four should be sentenced together because of a dispute over who masterminded the home invasion, brutal assault and robbery.
The matter was adjourned until next week and Sullivan, who Judge Ellis said was "likely" to receive a jail sentence, was granted an exemption to appear in person.
The victim used the Locanto classifieds website on January 12 last year to contact Dwyer and the pair agreed she would come over to provide "sexual favours" for $240 an hour.
But between 4.49am and 5.20am - while Dwyer was communicating with the victim - she was also texting Sullivan, telling him about the arrangement.
"Job at Cardiff?" Dwyer texted Sullivan. "Right now. Cash on premises. Home alone. That other c--- has no cash [or] nothing on him till 6.30."
When Sullivan replied "Ok, so come get u", Dwyer texted him: "Yes. Make ure (sic) thos (sic) boys understand we are about to robb (sic) this c--- at his home. He's alone waiting for me. He has cash."
Shortly after Dwyer arrived, Hicks and Shortland burst in and Hicks struck the victim in the forehead with a sword, fracturing his skull.
