Barbaro’s phone code win

ACCUSED Mongols bikie Harley Barbaro was within his rights to refuse police access to his mobile phone, the state’s highest court has ruled.

The ruling comes after months of legal debate about whether having emails and messages from his lawyer Campbell MacCallum, of Moloney MacCallum Abdelshahied Lawyers, on his phone meant Barbaro had a reasonable excuse to deny police access to his device.

Police seized Barbaro’s phone after a raid on May 22, 2018.

Barbaro refused to give over his passcode, stating legal professional privilege.

He claimed he should not have to give his passcode because there was no way to guarantee police would not look at the private conversation with his lawyer.

Magistrate Mark Howden found in the Southport Magistrates Court this was not a reasonable excuse and found him guilty.

Barbaro appealed to the Southport District Court and Judge David Kent overturned the conviction.

Judge Kent said because police had no process to ensure they did not access legal professional privilege material Barbaro was within his rights to refuse to provide his pin code.

Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll then went to the Court of Appeal. On Tuesday, three judges ruled Barbaro should not have had to provide his passcode.

“Disclosure of the password would have meant putting police officers in a position to read the privileged information,” Justice Walter Sofronoff wrote in his judgment.

After the decision was handed down, Mr MacCallum said that legal professional privilege was a “cornerstone” of the justice system.

“Prior to this decision many police officers have had complete access to strictly confidential material and used that information unlawfully. It’s a shame they will never be held accountable,” he said