JOHN OJAKOVOH AND MAHESH KARU SUCCESSFULLY DEFEND CLIENT ACCUSED OF CYBER CRIME

A man represented by John Ojakovoh and Mahesh Karu was acquitted this week after 4 weeks of trial at Wood Green Crown Court. Their client was alleged to have been the leader of a cybercrime group known as ‘Chuckling Squad’ and to have hacked the social media accounts of three North American celebrities, using a process involving ‘SIM swapping’, and to have distributed private sexual photographs obtained from one of the accounts, and supplied tools for use in cybercrime. The case involved extensive legal argument pre-trial on hearsay, and, during trial, on admissibility and disclosure, as well as cross-examination of a cyber expert in relation to devices seized from the client’s home. After week 4, the judge acceded to a Defence application to stay the proceedings as an abuse of process, based on deficiencies in the prosecution approach to disclosure in relation to central evidence in the case. The prosecution appealed the judge’s decision to the Court of Appeal, but, following service of the Defence response, abandoned its appeal, following which the client was acquitted of all six counts.

John Ojakovoh and Mahesh Karu were instructed by Mark French of Montague Solicitors.