This saga goes back to 2016, over 5 years ago. Now , the Supreme Court in Townsville has dismissed the “tampering” charges on the basis that it could not be proven: “Was it Josh Hoch who committed the act…”.
However, the fraud charges are a different matter and it will be interesting to see if the adjacent cancellation of Hoch’s AOC will proceed OR will #casa refuse to reinstate the AOC or is the use of the AOC related to the fraud.
Why did #casa issue the AOC, when Hoch had been operating in a commercial capacity in providing transport services to local politicians, at least to early 2016 or late 2015?
Josh Hoch faces 343 charges including counts of endangering the safety of a person in a vehicle with intent, falsification of documents, and fraud; and Nichole Ellen Limburg faces one charge of fraud after a protracted multi-agency investigation was conducted in January 2017
North Queensland man’s charges of interfering with planes, sabotage of planes dropped in Supreme Court
Josh Hoch was originally charged with more than 300 charges in 2017. Plane tampering charges were dropped in a Supreme Court sitting in Mount Isa.(ABC North West Queensland: Kelly Butterworth
A North Queensland pilot accused of tampering with his rivals’ fuel tanks has had charges of interfering with planes and associated sabotage of planes dropped in a Supreme Court sitting in Mount Isa.
Key points:
Charges against former pilot Josh Hoch of tampering with the fuel tanks of a plane have been dropped in court
The jury was dismissed after one week of a trial expected to last for three
The prosecution dropped the case as it was officially concluded there was not sufficient evidence to prove it was Josh Hoch who had committed the alleged acts
Josh Hoch was 31 when he was charged with numerous offences including plane tampering, fraud, falsification of documents and other aircraft related offences in 2017.
Today Justice James Henry dismissed the jury after one week of the trial, which was expected to last three weeks.
Justice Henry told the jury in the first five minutes of today’s sitting that the Crown would not continue to prosecute the charges relating to interfering with planes and associated sabotage.
“The short version is the case has been dropped,” Justice Henry said.
He told the jury that because they had been sitting on the case for a week, he would explain the particulars of the change.
Three ‘critical layers’ in case
Justice Henry outlined three “critical layers” of the case which the jury had been tasked to decide upon.
The first was if the contaminants in the fuel tanks had been there as the result of human intervention, the second was if it was done as a deliberate act of sabotage, and the third was if it had been Josh Hoch who had committed the alleged acts.
Mr Henry said it was the third that “was always the prosecution’s real challenge” and that they also had to prove motive, opportunity and that he had knowledge that only the offender would know.
“Perhaps unsurprisingly, the prosecution put up the white flag and has dropped the case,” Justice Henry said.
“It has been officially concluded, it was not sufficient to pursue a case.”
Mr Hoch has further charges proceeding in the District and Magistrates courts.
Josh Hoch’s aircraft tampering charges dropped in Supreme Court
Samantha Campbell of North West Star – Mt. Isa
Josh Hoch was charged in 2017 with numerous offences including plane tampering, fraud, falsification of documents and other aircraft related offences.
The long-running case of North West Queensland pilot Josh Hoch has come to a close, resulting in the Mount Isa Supreme Court dropping the charges associated with tampering of an aircraft.
On Monday March 8, Justice James Henry told the jury that the Crown would not continue to prosecute the charges relating to the planes and associated sabotage, following insufficient evidence to prove Hoch had committed the alleged acts.
The trial was expected to last three weeks, however Justice Henry dismissed the jury after the first week of the trial stating “the short version is the case has been dropped.”
ABC North West Queensland reported that Justice Henry outlined three “critical layers” of the case which the jury had been tasked to decide upon.
The first was if the contaminants in the fuel tanks had been there as the result of human intervention, the second was if it was done as a deliberate act of sabotage, and the third was if it had been Josh Hoch who had committed the alleged acts.
Mr Henry said it was the third that “was always the prosecution’s real challenge” and that they also had to prove motive, opportunity and that he had knowledge that only the offender would know.
“Perhaps unsurprisingly, the prosecution put up the white flag and has dropped the case,” Justice Henry said.
“It has been officially concluded, it was not sufficient to pursue a case.”
Hoch was charged in 2017 with numerous offences including plane tampering, fraud, falsification of documents and other aircraft related offences.
Mr Hoch has further charges proceeding in the District and Magistrates courts.
The Josh Hoch saga
Josh Hoch saga and #casa
This saga goes back to 2016, over 5 years ago. Now , the Supreme Court in Townsville has dismissed the “tampering” charges on the basis that it could not be proven: “Was it Josh Hoch who committed the act…”.
However, the fraud charges are a different matter and it will be interesting to see if the adjacent cancellation of Hoch’s AOC will proceed OR will #casa refuse to reinstate the AOC or is the use of the AOC related to the fraud.
Why did #casa issue the AOC, when Hoch had been operating in a commercial capacity in providing transport services to local politicians, at least to early 2016 or late 2015?
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