Mark Tedeschi

Mark Alfred Guido Tedeschi, AM, QC (born 1952) is an Australian barrister, law professor, photographer and author. He has won numerous awards for his photography and has been featured in galleries throughout the world including in the State Library of New South Wales, the New South Wales Art Gallery, the Center for Fine Art Photography in Colorado, and the National Library in Canberra. He is the Senior Crown Prosecutor for New South Wales and the Head of Chambers of the 84 Crown Prosecutors. He is the founder and president of the Australian Association of Crown Prosecutors and a visiting professor at the University of Wollongong. As a prosecutor, Tedeschi is best known for the prosecution of numerous high-profile cases in Australia including the 2006 conviction of Dr. Suman Sood for illegal abortion and the Backpacker Murders committed by Ivan Milat in the 1990s.

Tedeschi earned a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Sydney in 1974 and was then admitted as a Solicitor for New South Wales. He later received a Master of Arts in Business Law, specialising in International Business, Trade and Taxation Law, from the London Metropolitan University (then the City of London Polytechnic), where he also served as a part-time Lecturer in Law.

Legal career

Tedeschi became a Barrister in 1977. He became a Crown Prosecutor in 1983, a Queen's Counsel in 1988, a Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor in 1990, and the Senior Crown Prosecutor in 1997. During his career, he has worked on numerous high-profile cases in New South Wales. He was a defence barrister for the "Greek Conspiracy Case" in the late 1970s where over 100 people, the majority of whom were of Greek origin, were arrested and charged with defrauding Social Security. The case sparked a documentary entitled Witch Hunt that premiered at the 1987 Sydney Film Festival.

Tedeschi prosecuted the Backpacker Murders committed by Ivan Milat in the 1990s where a total of seven bodies were discovered in the Belanglo State Forest in New South Wales. Milat was later arrested and found guilty of all murders on 27 July 1996. Milat later appealed the conviction but it was upheld.

Tedeschi successfully prosecuted Chew Seng Liew and Choon Tee Lim for the 1991 shooting death of prominent Australian heart surgeon Victor Chang. On 4 July 1991, Chang was forced to pull his vehicle over by Liew and Lim and they attempted to rob him. After pulling over, Chang refused to give Liew and Lim his money. An argument ensued and Liew fired two shots, killing Chang. A third suspect was granted immunity for testifying against Liew and Lim. The original plan was to abduct Chang for ransom; however, the third suspect backed out of the plan the day before the shooting.

Tedeschi was a prosecutor for the infamous 2000 Fijian coup d'état led by George Speight. In 2004, he prosecuted then Vice-President Jope Seniloli for falsely swearing in ministers. He also won convictions against Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Rakuita Vakalalabure, Ratu Viliame Volavola, Peceli Rinakama, and Viliame Savu for the same offence. All were sentenced to various prison terms.

The entrance to the Belanglo State Forest where the Backpacker Murders took place in the 1990s

In 2007, Tedeschi was the Counsel Assisting the Coroner for the deaths of five Australian journalists at Balibo. Dubbed the Balibo Five, all were killed on 16 October 1975 during Indonesia incursions prior to the invasion. The deaths were declared deliberate in 2007 by an Australian coroner and ruled that they were deliberately killed by Indonesian special forces soldiers. The incident was the subject of the 2009 film Balibo which won several awards.

Tedeschi prosecuted Phuong Ngo for the assassination of Australian Parliament Member John Newman. This was the first assassination in Australia's history and the trial ended in two mistrials before Ngo was found guilty of the murder in 2001. Ngo was a rival politician to Newman and was also said to have offered a relative $10,000 to perform the murder (which the relative turned down).

Academic career

From 1974 to 1975, Tedeschi served as a Lecturer in Law at the London Metropolitan University. At that time, it was known as the City of London Polytechnic. He was a part-time lecturer while earning his master's degree.

In 2005, he was appointed as a visiting professorial fellow at the University of Wollongong.

Photography

Tedeschi is a well-known photographer. He has had fourteen solo exhibitions and has participated in over twenty group exhibitions in Australia, Italy, France, and the United States. His images are included in the State Library of New South Wales, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National Library of Australia in Canberra, the Museum of Sydney, the Justice and Police Museum, the State Library of New South Wales (which has over 180 of his images), the Centre for Fine Art Photography in Colorado USA, and many private collections.

Tedeschi has been a judge of photographc competitions including the New South Wales Parliamentary Photograph Prize. He frequently lectures on photography to camera clubs, the Art Gallery Society, and community groups. Mark is a member of the board of directors of the National Art School in Sydney and a Trustee of Sydney Grammar School. He is a former artist-in-residence at Sydney Grammar School.

Tedeschi is the author of two books, one on law and the other on photography. In 1980, he co-authored Law of International Business in Australia with Dr. P.J. O'Keefe. He released a book of photograph in 2012 entitled Shooting Around Corners which featured over twenty five years of his photography.

Tedeschi is the author of a true crime book called Eugenia, published in 2012 by Simon & Schuster, which tells the story of Eugenia Falleni, a woman of Italian and New Zealand background who lived in Australia as a man from 1898 until she was charged with the murder of her first "wife" in 1920. In this book, Tedeschi describes the tortuous life that Eugenia Falleni led as a woman trying to lead life as a man in a society that did not understand such things. He describes her murder trial in Sydney in 1920 in which she was prosecuted by the first Senior Crown Prosecutor, William Coyle KC. Part of the book describes this very complex and interesting trial, and Eugenia Falleni's life after her trial.

Tedeschi has been a four time finalist in the National Photographic Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra as well as the Contemporary Photographic Prize, the "Head On" Photographic Portrait Prize at the Australian Centre for Photography, and the Photographic Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

In 2013 he was announced a Member of the Order of Australia (AM), for significant service to the law as a prosecutor, and to photography.

Tedeschi is the father of the classical pianist Simon Tedeschi.