1. Outline the facts of the case – R v Islam (2017) (see text)
2. Committal hearing was held in the Magistrate Court to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to commit Islam to stand trial on all charges and gain conviction in a higher court, being the County Court of Victoria.
3. Arson and property damage by fire are indicatable offences that fall within the jurisdiction of the County Court, as opposed to the most serious indictable offences/ murder related offences that are heard in the Supreme Court.
4. Imprisonment – sentenced to a jail term for a period of time due to the many charges he faces. Imprisonment would be an appropriate sanction if he is found guilty of the many offences he has been charged with to punish Islam and to protect society from him.
5. Imprisonment achieves these purposes of sanctions: punishes offender, protection of society, deterrence of offender and others in society, rehabilitation and denunciation.
6. A possible avenue of appeal from the County Court of Victoria would be to the Supreme Court of Victoria – Court of Appeal, who has appellate criminal jurisdiction to hear criminal appeals on a point of law, or against a conviction and/or sentence from the County Court.
7. The fact that Nur Islam has been committed to stand trial in the County Court after pleading not guilty to all charges in his committal hearing would suggest that he would not believe the principles of justice – fairness, equality and access, were achieved for him. Therefore, Islam would most likely think this was an unfair outcome for him since he pleaded not guilty and was still committed to stand trial. However, in saying this, all parties would be treated equally and given an equal opportunity to present their case and evidence (hence achieving equality), and the accused had access to court to resolve his case.
However, the victims could consider to a certain extent that the principles of justice – fairness, equality and access – were achieved since Islam will have to face all of his charges in his trial.