Overview
- A District Court judge ordered on Tuesday that the video recordings of a February 2025 ChatRoulette conversation be excluded from the trials of Ahmed Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh.
- Judge Michael McHugh found the footage was improperly obtained under NSW rules on private recordings and applied the Evidence Act to bar its admission.
- The exclusion is a major setback for prosecutors because the published video was the most direct evidence of the alleged threats, but the judge said whether the offences are proved is for a jury to decide.
- Both defendants remain on bail and their trial is listed for the end of August and will proceed without the excluded video, while most of the judge’s written reasons for the decision are under embargo.
- After the video went viral last year, NSW Health stood the nurses down and imposed a two-year ban from NDIS work, highlighting the broader employment and regulatory fallout separate from the criminal case.