Rodney Stevens
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions is considering whether to pursue charges against Big Rob over the alleged assault and intimidation of a woman at Lismore in November.
Police allege Mr Rob, formerly known as Robert Bou-Hamdan, had a disagreement with the woman at a sushi restaurant on November 22 and assaulted her.
Following the disagreement and alleged assault, the woman discovered Mr Rob, 45, had been posting comments she found to be intimidating, menacing and harassing on Facebook.
Lismore Detectives arrested the former mayoral candidate, who received just over three per cent of the 2016 vote, and he was granted conditional bail.
This morning at Lismore Local Court, Mr Rob, dressed in his trademark black shirt and shorts, represented himself.
The kebab shop owner faced charges of assault, intimidation and using a carriage service to menace/harass/offend.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Gradisnik asked Magistrate David Heilpern to adjourn Mr Rob’s matters as the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions CDPP was considering whether to take carriage of the case.
The court heard at Mr Rob’s last appearance, he asked for his matters to be heard before a jury.
Sgt Gradisnik said the CDPP had advised that hearing Mr Rob’s matters before a jury was beyond the jurisdiction of the Local Court.
Mr Rob then told the court he would be making a subpoena on police for access to material from the case against him.
Mr Heilpern granted Mr Rob access to view a disk of police evidence against him.
He ordered Mr Rob not to copy the police evidence, or publish it in any way.
Mr Heilpern adjourned Mr Rob’s matters until March 13 at Lismore Local Court.
How many more in our community will Mr Rob harass, menace and offend before the court system acts to protect our community?
I personally have been subjected to Mr Rob’s ‘Special Treatment’ for nearly 4 years now….
Some Police in Lismore NSW … prefer to just ignore his many possible Criminal acts, rather than act against him …
The time has arrived for action to be taken to protect the many people Mr Rob chooses to harass ….
Gary, the best thing you and the dozens of individuals that this town clown has stalked assaulted and harassed over the years is to ring Sgt Gradisnik (Tele 6626 0599) and advise that you want to make formal written submission to the CDPP. Obtain the name and email of the officer handling the case and email your submission. Keep it relevant, brief and without emotion. Remember it is been read by a senior lawyer who is only concerned with facts and relevant issues not insults and conjecture.
Can you please tell me how or what to do about making a complaint against this Rob fellow.?
Your journalist is really far too kind to Robert Bou-Hamdan AKA Big Rob AKA Rob, Mr. Big. In actual fact this [person who is facing allegations of assault against a woman] was in fact dressed in an over sized black T shirt, knee length polyester shorts and a well worn pair of thongs.
It is really laughable that he thought he could ask for a jury trial in the Local Court. I can only assume he has missed his first lectures in his multi attempted often delayed law degree. The centuries old legal dictum “he who has as a client himself, has as a client a fool” would appear to be the case here.
It was with some interest that I read on Bou-Hamdan’s Facebook page that his way of approaching litigation is to go into attack mode. One can only wait with baited breath for this individual to progress to the criminal law and legal procedures subjects in his degree course where he will learn (although I suspect this will also prove to be quite beyond his grasp) that attack mode never works and indeed is regarded as unprofessional conduct for those who aspire to greatness in the criminal jurisdictions. The law reports are littered with the sad histories of angry individuals who thought that the best way to advance their cause was to show contempt for the institutions and their opponents.
Bou-Hamdan would find that rational calm logical arguments, some degree of decorum to the Court and a touch of respect, at least publicly, to his opponents would serve him well on so many levels. Again, sadly I suspect these legal niceties developed over centuries of practice will be largely lost on this sad individual.
Once Bou-Hamdan thought he was ‘protected’ by the system and could get away with anything it seems? Guess who’s roof is falling in?
Couldn’t agree more, Ron!
I have just wasted 16 minutes of my life. Granted, I was hoping that I wouldn’t but my head, heart and gut instincts all screamed out that I would be. Normally, one of these instincts will say STOP. But rarely ever do all 3 scream out in unison. Well tonight they did. And the reason they did was I started to watch a recorded message from Lismore’s failed Mayoral Candidate, Robert Bou-Hamdan AKA Big Rob AKA Mr. Rob,Big. The message was pasted on his Facebook page. And despite all my instincts saying not to, I watched it to the end. Yes, 16 minutes of fake news and half truths. According to Bou-Hamdan, Lismore’s Police hate him. The local Prosecutors are against him. The Magistrates are against him. The Mayor is against him. The newspapers are against him. All the people whom he blocks on his social media pages are against him. Various reporters are against him. And finally, by his own reckoning, 60% of Lismore is against him. Actually, on this point he is kinda correct although a more accurate way of expressing it would be to say 96.4% of Lismore is against him, the other 3.6% are those who voted for him.
Now, you could be excused for thinking that Bou-Hamdan (the only Mayoral Candidate who polled so poorly that he failed to gain enough votes so as not forfeit his Electoral Act deposit) would give it a break after that community encompassing spray, but oh no, he was just warming up. He then launches into an attack on the journalists. Now fascinatingly, his Facebook page grandly proclaims that it is a media company and Bou-Hamdan grandly describes himself as a journalist. Well, just like his many attempted but never completed (I suspect never started) law course, we must suspect that Bou-Hamdan really has no clue about the field of journalism either. Because if he did, surely he would know that only when journalists are onto something do you start calling them names and attack them personally. In the Big Rob School of Professional Journalism, forget the news and facts, just go the reporter.
Which brings me to the final issue. Yet again, Bou-Hamdan fails to recognise just how bad he really did in the council election. He came last by thousands of votes in the Mayoral Election. His ticket came last by thousands of votes. The list of lasts goes on and on. And what does Bou-Hamdan do. Well, he spins the truth and comes up with an alternate fact that is lifted straight from Trumptalk 101. He says, and I quote him “I didn’t make any effort.” What bollocks. He had campaign corflutes at various locations around Lismore. He had 2 posted on the awning of a shopfront in the CBD. He had campaign posters up at every polling booth. Both he and one of his running mates was at the pre-poll for the entire 2 weeks that pre-polling was open. Finally, he handed out both at pre-poll and on polling day a business card sized Voting instruction sheet which he to this day tries to maintain was not a how to vote card. Sorry, Rob. If you are pressing a card which says Vote Group D and it has your name and hairy face staring out from it, then yes, it’s a how to vote. Oh and yes. Despite numerous requests from station management he repeatedly plugged his campaign on his now defunct radio show.
Now I must admit, at the time of the election I quite admired his effort and determination. I might not agree with a thing he says, but as a fan of all things Political I admired his effort. So I cannot understand for the life of me why he now seeks to denigrate that effort and purport that he didn’t make one. Rob, I can understand you might be hurt that only 3.6% of your peers wanted to let you anywhere near the Mayoral Robes. I can understand your frustration that so few share your vision, or to put it another way, a massive majority don’t relate to anything you stand for (memo to self…. find out what Bou-Hamdan actually stands for) and I can understand that you are royally pissed that you were the only candidate who lost your deposit. But please stop saying you didn’t make an effort. You did. And it was admirable. But it failed. Badly.
I am an almost three year victim of this man.
I have endured his relentless attacks, his publishing of photos, taken without my knowledge, and then aspersions cast against me to accompany said photos to make it look like I was attacking him.
I like many others have been called a stalker, and he has then gone on to attack anyone who has come to me defence.
He calls people pedophiles, thus starting vicious unfounded rumors, and when these people try to defend themselves against such harassment, he says, and the quotes may be found on his many Facebook identities and pages, ” If they come out claiming they are not pedophiles, then they must be because why say anything if they know the Rumors to be untrue, neglecting to tell people that he was the one who started such rumors.
This is disgusting behavior from this person claiming to be a journalist and publisher.
Remember that having an internet account, and a computer and a mobile phone does not make someone a journalist.
A Code of Ethics is the best place for anyone claiming to be a journalist to begin.
Great work here by the Echonetdaily and keep up the good work,
Again, I would urge anyone who has suffered at the hands of Big Rob to make a formal complaint with the police and also make representations to the Commonwealth DPP. If they start getting correspondence from local people who Robert Bou-Hamdan has attacked then they will realise that there is something worth going after this fellow for. I am having a telephone conference call on Tuesday with the relevant officer from the CDPP and hope to be able to provide contact details after that. In the meantime, you can always did what I did. Contact local police, get the officer’s contact details and go from there. Be under no misunderstanding, this matter is been taken very seriously by RR LAC. Bou-Hamdan left Sydney for a reason. Let’s all unite to get him out of our lovely community as well. His Facebook footprint contains hateful and spiteful comments, half truths and self righteous uneducated pomposity. There is a reason he lives the way he does. Bou-Hamdan used to amuse me, now he does not!
The police allege a lot of stuff, mostly made up. They have to to justify their parasitical uselessness