Blackett Avenue stabbing case dismissed

A Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) prosecutor gave no reason for the decision.

Dragan Kutic, 23, Ahmed Hamden, 20, and Nedjelko Pozder, 42, were alleged to have stormed into a Blackett Avenue home armed with an iron bar, cricket bat and baseball bat on November 12. 

Hamden and Pozder were both stabbed in the upper body during the melee with the house’s occupants that followed.

They were both flown to The Canberra Hospital for treatment.

Each man was charged with a number of offences, including aggravated entry, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, affray and being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence.

They were yet to enter a plea.

Magistrate Peter Dare S.C. looked visibly shocked when DPP prosecutor John Kontista said all 16 charges had been withdrawn and dismissed without reason. 

“Really?” he said. 

Pozder’s solicitor, Fiona Sams, sought a mention date for her client to put in a possible cost application to cover his legal fees.

“My client was a wrongly accused man and the evidence shows this,” she said. 

Mr Dare set the date for October 22 but told her, “good luck”.

“People plead not guilty to breathing in this town,” he said.  

Mr Kontista indicated the DPP would oppose any such application. 

Kutic and his solicitor were not present in court to hear the news.

Hamden, who is in custody after breaching his bail, was also not in court as his charges were not listed on that day. However, they will be formally withdrawn on September 26 when he appears at Wagga Local Court.

It’s not clear whether Hamden, who is also charged in relation to a July 22 kidnapping in Young, will be eligible for release in light of yesterday’s events.