ARROGANT POLICE IGNORE EVIDENCE OF INNOCENCE

New South Wales Police may face legal action after charges against a 21-year-old man over a Sydney fast food restaurant shooting were dropped. The arrest followed a shooting at Stanmore in inner-western Sydney about 2am (AEST) on Saturday, April 16, but NSW Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) today dropped the charges against Norman Yammine, of Auburn in western Sydney', after evidence proved he was interstate at the time of the offence.

Mr Yammine's solicitor Brett Galloway said he would meet NSW Police after the charges were formally dropped next week to give representatives a chance to settle out of court. "We will be pursing our own costs and we'll then be pursing NSW Police in the civil courts for malicious prosecution and false imprisonment," Mr Galloway said.

Mr Yammine was arrested in April and charged with attempted murder and shooting with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm. A second man, Yousef Saraya, 20, was also arrested over the attack, and police said detectives would proceed with the charges against him. Mr Yammine applied for bail twice, and was released the second time after DNA evidence failed to link him to the crime.

He said he had been on the Gold Coast attending a friend's funeral on April 14, and stayed at a Holiday Inn hotel during his visit. He said he boarded a flight to Sydney from the Gold Coast about midday on the day of the shooting – 10 hours after the attack. Mr Galloway said Mr Yammine was identified by a woman in a police line-up, despite her giving an earlier description that did not match his characteristics.

An airline boarding pass that showed Mr Yammine had been interstate was given to police when they searched his house, but police did not investigate it and relied on the line-up identification, Mr Galloway said. "The proper thing for them to do was to investigate that rather than locking him up and refusing bail," he said. "The conduct (of police) has been absolutely appalling."

Mr Yammine had suffered a lot of stress since his arrest, and was today celebrating the DPP decision, Mr Galloway said. "He's absolutely ecstatic," he said. "He knows he wasn't there, he knows he didn't commit the offence. "He's been very distressed by the whole thing, knowing that there's always a prospect when someone's charged, even if they're not guilty, they can be found guilty."

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