Category Archives: Australian police and policing

Victorian detective got free tickets to boxing from Mick Gatto, Ibac hearing told

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Det Sgt Wayne Dean says on two occasions he shared tickets given to him by the alleged underworld figure with other officers

Victorian police officers received free tickets to boxing events with complimentary food and alcohol after alleged underworld figure Mick Gatto gifted the tickets to a senior detective, an anti-corruption commission hearing has heard.

Det Sgt Wayne Dean confirmed in his evidence before a public Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption (Ibac) hearing on Wednesday that on two occasions Gatto, who he had known since the mid-1990s, provided him free tickets to boxing events in Melbourne.

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Expert warned against wrist X-rays used by AFP to prosecute children as adult people smugglers

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Radiologist James Christie’s court evidence said technique had no scientific validity and was never intended to assess age

An expert radiologist says Australian federal police continued to use wrist X-rays to prosecute children as adult people smugglers after he had given unequivocal evidence of the technique’s unreliability, something he now says was “just wrong” and akin to “child abuse”.

Last week, six Indonesian boys won a major case overturning their convictions as adult people smugglers in 2010 amid the highly charged political atmosphere around border protection.

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‘They were tiny’: the Indonesians still fighting their conviction as adults in Australia

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Anto and Samsul Bahar were 15 when they were jailed in a maximum security facility in Western Australia

Staring at the camera, Anto’s face, wide-eyed and child-like, invites a simple question.

How could anyone, let alone Australia’s federal crime fighting agency, see an adult gazing back at them?

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WA coroner says police failed to monitor breathing of Aboriginal woman pinned to the ground

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It was ‘incomprehensible’ that a police internal investigation into Cherdeena Wynne’s restraint found it was in line with policy and procedures, coroner finds

A Western Australian coroner has criticised police offices for their “woefully inadequate” monitoring of an Aboriginal woman’s breathing after she was pinned to the ground and lost consciousness before being allowed to sit up.

Cherdeena Wynne, a 26-year-old Noongar Yamatji woman, died in hospital five days after she was pinned in a prone position by police officers, one of whom had his knee on her shoulder blades and leg across her upper back for almost two minutes.

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Queensland police update manual after signalling reforms to how officers accused of domestic violence are handled

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Manual amended to require additional paperwork, with reviews on a case-by-case basis

The Queensland police service appears to have balked at substantial reform to the way it handles officers who are accused of domestic violence, after promising to act on a “concerning increase” in the volume of complaints.

Last May the assistant commissioner Brian Codd told Guardian Australia that police were “grappling” with how to respond to the increase officer-involved domestic violence, and that reforms were “very much” on the agenda.

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Zachary Rolfe’s ex-fiancee told detectives he spoke of getting paid holiday if he shot someone, court documents show

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Police officer denies making comments, which are alleged in an interview and statement released by Northern Territory supreme court

Northern Territory police officer Zachary Rolfe spoke repeatedly about how he could take a paid holiday if he shot someone while on duty, his former fiancee told detectives, according to a transcript of a police interview and a statement released by the NT supreme court.

In the wide-ranging interview the woman also said Rolfe told her at different times that he was the first to get his gun out on jobs, and did not turn on his body-worn camera as he did not want people at the police station to see what he was doing.

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Australian Border Force searched 822 phones in 2021 despite having no power to demand passcodes

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Greens digital rights spokesperson says officers should be required to get a warrant before going through travellers’ mobile phones

Australian Border Force officials searched 822 travellers’ mobile phones in 2021, despite admitting it has no power to force arrivals to give them the passcode to their devices.

In January, Sydney software developer James told Guardian Australia that he and his partner were stopped on their return from Fiji by border force officials who asked them to write their phone passcodes on a piece of paper before taking the codes and their phones to another room to examine for half an hour. The phones were then returned and they were allowed to leave.

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‘Grab and drag’ proposal will bridge gap between assault and sexual offences in Victoria, experts say

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Law reform body says there should be consequences for offenders who make victims fear they will be sexually assaulted

Offenders who grab and drag their victim in a way that makes them fear they will be sexually assaulted could be jailed for up to 10 years under a proposal outlined by Victoria’s peak law reform body.

The Andrews government asked the Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) to review “grab and drag” offences after a 2018 assault in which Jackson Williams grabbed a 39-year-old woman and dragged her into an alleyway.

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NSW principal’s Harvard scholarship paused due to school investigation

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Education department probes complaints about Katoomba high school’s response to claims of harassment among students

The principal of a Blue Mountains high school has had a prestigious Harvard scholarship put on hold while her school is investigated by the New South Wales Department of Education.

The internal departmental investigation comes on top of two court cases involving staff or students at the school.

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Life after prison: Victoria expands jobs program for ex-offenders in bid to reduce recidivism

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Inquiry has found unemployment a key compounding factor in people returning to jail

Domestic violence and sexual assault survivor Grace* knows first-hand the discrimination experienced by ex-prisoners while job hunting.

The 27-year-old floated between the criminal justice system and attempts to find work, having been locked up for theft and drug possession.

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Almost 400 Queenslanders have waited two years for a decision on domestic violence assistance

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Figures tabled in parliament reveal demand on victims of crime fund growing 16% this year

It took Lisa* and her son just three days to receive a disaster support payment after they were forced to abandon their flooded Brisbane home in February.

But Lisa says after fleeing an allegedly physically and sexually violent relationship, she waited eight months for an initial payment from the state government through Victim Assist Queensland (VAQ).

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Shayla Phillips: Tasmania police use dogs and drones in third day of search for missing girl

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Shayla, 4, was last seen near Stormlea Road in Stormlea on Wednesday afternoon

Tasmanian search crews remain hopeful a missing four-year-old girl will be found alive and well as the search enters its third day.

Shayla Phillips was last seen about 2.30pm on Wednesday near Stormlea Road in Stormlea, wearing pink leggings, a cream top and gumboots.

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Push to protect sexual assault victims’ communications with doctors enters Victorian parliament

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Confidential communications often obtained by defence lawyers to undermine victims’ credibility

Victorian alleged sexual assault victims will have the right to defend their confidential communications being aired in court under new amendments to be introduced to state parliament by Justice party MP Stuart Grimley.

The amendments to the justice legislation amendment bill 2022, to be debated in the upper house on Thursday, were recommended in two separate inquiries by the Victorian Law Reform Commission in 2016 and 2021.

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Zachary Rolfe on leave as NT police investigates internal disciplinary matters

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NT police union says the force is investigating several matters unrelated to the shooting of Kumanjayi Walker

Constable Zachary Rolfe is on leave as the Northern Territory police investigates internal disciplinary matters, only days after he was found not guilty of murdering Kumanjayi Walker.

Rolfe, 30, has been told to take leave as the force investigates several internal matters unrelated to the shooting, Guardian Australia has confirmed. It is unclear what those investigations concern.

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Man charged with murder after three die in Sydney boarding house fire

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A 45-year-old man has been charged with three counts of murder after the fire in the inner west suburb of Newtown on Tuesday

A man has been charged with three counts of murder following a fire in a boarding house in Newtown in New South Wales on Tuesday.

The 45-year-old man, who police say was a former resident of the boarding house, was also charged with one count of destroying or damaging property by fire or explosive.

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Ben Roberts-Smith a mentor to Zachary Rolfe, the NT police officer cleared of murder

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Relationship between two former soldiers detailed in statement by Rolfe’s mother, Debbie, in Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial

The former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith, who is facing allegations of war crimes, was a “mentor” to Zachary Rolfe, the Northern Territory police officer who was cleared on Friday of murdering Kumanjayi Walker.

The relationship between the two men, who have been at the centre of separate trials that have dominated the media for more than a month, is detailed in a statement by Rolfe’s mother, Debbie, submitted to court as part of Roberts-Smith’s case.

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Zachary Rolfe found not guilty of murder over Kumanjayi Walker fatal shooting

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Rolfe, 30, was also cleared of two alternative charges of manslaughter and engaging in a violent act causing death

Northern Territory police officer Zachary Rolfe has been found not guilty of murder in relation to the shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker.

Rolfe, 30, was also cleared of two alternative charges of manslaughter and engaging in a violent act causing death.

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Police drop all charges against Friendlyjordies producer accused of stalking John Barilaro

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Kristo Langker was arrested at his home in June last year after an investigation into alleged stalking

Police have dropped all charges against Friendlyjordies producer Kristo Langker after accusing him of stalking former New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro.

Langker, 22, was arrested at his home in June last year after an investigation into alleged stalking by NSW police’s fixated persons investigation unit.

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Judge urges jurors to ‘guard against’ emotion when considering verdict in Zachary Rolfe murder trial

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A jury has retired to consider its verdict in the case of the Northern Territory constable charged with the murder of Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker

The judge presiding over the murder trial of Northern Territory constable Zachary Rolfe has urged the jury to ignore emotion or sympathy that may have arisen during confronting evidence in the case when they consider their verdict.

Judge John Burns gave the jury his directions in the supreme court on Thursday. The jurors have now retired to consider their verdict after an almost five-week trial.

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Zachary Rolfe trial: other officer present when Kumanjayi Walker was shot begins evidence

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Remote Sgt Adam Eberl tells court he did not consider Walker to be dangerous when police first encountered him

A police officer involved in the attempt to arrest Kumanjayi Walker before his death has told a court he was “surprised” other officers had not used their guns when the Warlpiri man threatened them with an axe during a seperate incident days earlier.

Remote Sgt Adam Eberl was the other officer in the room when Constable Zachary Rolfe shot dead Walker on 9 November 2019 in the remote community of Yuendumu, about 300km from Alice Springs.

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