Ben McClellan
The Daily Telegraph
October 31,2013
HE became one of the faces of hate for the Muslim riots in Hyde Park last year, smashing the windscreen of a marked police car with a milk crate, now Omar Halaby has been put behind bars until December after pleading guilty to allegedly verbally abusing officers during a car stop and refusing to let a female officer fingerprint him when arrested last month.
The Padstow teenager, 19, today formally pleaded guilty to using offensive language and resisting arrest over the incident on the corner of Bryant Street and Gibson Avenue in Padstow on September 21.
Bankstown Local Court Magistrate Roger Prowse remanded Halaby in custody for violating three good behaviour bonds in a "short period of time".
He will appear via video link at Tamworth Court on December 9.
The court heard Halaby had violated three bonds including for assault and property damage (the September 2012 Muslim riot).
Halaby had escaped with a good behaviour bond for his role in the September 2012 Muslim riot after his lawyer told magistrate Pat O'Shane in January that he suffered from learning and physical disabilities.
Omar's Finest Hour
When asked if he wanted a pre-sentence report he said he didn't know what that was.
He asked the court if he could be sentenced to community service after telling Maj Prowse his "brain didn't work, you know" and he had had a "bad year".
"I've got problems," he said.
But Maj Prowse wouldn't be swayed.
"You know you are going into custody. You've breached at least three bonds," he said.
Halaby tried to dispute this saying he had only broken two but was soon corrected by Maj Prowse.
When Halaby asked the first magistrate he appeared before, when he said he intended to enter a plea of guilty at 9.30am in another court, how long his court appearance would take he was told it could take "five minutes or five hours".
He was a passenger in a white 2005 BMW last month and shouted out of the window: "F... off dog c...s," it is alleged during the police car stop that again had him in court.
It is alleged that he refused to given officers his name or any details and was taken to Bankstown Police Station where he allegedly "resisted violently" and refused to provide his fingerprints to the female officer.
"You can't make me do anything. It's against my religion to allow females to touch me," Halaby, who claims on his Facebook page that he is now married, reportedly told the female officer at Bankstown Police Station last month.
Police called an Arabic-speaking male officer who fingerprinted Halaby.
The Muslim rioter who had been receiving a $200-a-fortnight disability pension bragged on his Facebook page last month that he worked as a sub-contractor on a building site.
In January, when Halaby pleaded guilty to smashing the windscreen of a marked police car with a milk crate and assaulting a TV cameraman during last year's riot, he told the court that he regretted bringing the Islamic community into disrepute and apologised for his "stupid and reckless" actions during the riots.
He had yelled Islamic slogans at the camera crew and pushed a cameraman during the protest. He paid $500 for the damage to the police car.
Just before his court appearance in January, he posted on Facebook: ``Having the time of my life at Downing Centre Local Court.''
"He has literacy issues, a short attention span, things to that effect,'' Legal Aid lawyer Sophie Edin told the court at the time.
On his Facebook page, he lists the TV program Housos and the violent video game Grand Theft Auto among his favourites.
It is believed that Halaby was being investigated for collecting a $200-a-week pension while bragging on Facebook that he worked as a subcontractor on a construction site.
