Court reinstates video evidence in Bankstown nurses case

The video at the centre of the case against two former Bankstown Hospital nurses accused of threatening Israeli patients has been reinstated as evidence, weeks before the pair are due to stand trial.

Sarah Abu Lebdeh, 27, and Ahmad Rashad Nadir, 28, were charged after a video of the pair, recorded during an online chat, was leaked in February last year. Police allege the two threatened violence against Israeli patients at Bankstown Hospital in Sydney’s west, where they worked as nurses. Both have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

In the video, recorded during an exchange with Israeli content creator Max Ilinski, known online as Max Veifer, Nadir allegedly told Ilinski: “You have no idea how many (Israeli people) come to this hospital … I send to Jahannam,” using the Arabic word for hell. Abu Lebdeh allegedly said that if an Israeli patient came into the hospital, “I won’t treat them, I will kill them.”

Abu Lebdeh was charged with using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend, and with threatening violence to a group. Nadir was charged with using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend.

In June, the NSW District Court ruled the video inadmissible and excluded it from trial on the grounds it was recorded without consent. “Ultimately, I have come to the firm view that all the video evidence must be excluded from each of the trials of the applicants,” Judge Michael McHugh said in that ruling.

Under NSW law, it is illegal to record a private conversation without the consent of those involved, an offence carrying a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.

The Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions appealed the decision. On Friday, the NSW Supreme Court set aside McHugh’s ruling, finding the unedited audiovisual evidence was admissible and could be used at trial. The court’s reasons will be published at a later date.

The former nurses are set to stand trial from August 31.