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 Robert Kim
Sloan
On March 22,
2000, the national secretary of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club was arrested after
drug squad police raided its Geelong chapter house.
Sloan was
one of four people arrested during the raids.
Detective
Sergeant Stephen McIntyre, of the drug squad, told Melbourne Magistrates Court
that 100 grams of pseudo-ephedrine, found in Sloan's freezer, and about 90 grams
of ecstasy tablets were seized during the raid on his Kilgour Street
home.
A small quantity of
cannabis was also found.
Police claimed that they had found drugs in a freezer
and in an urn while they raided the kitchen of Sloan's house.
Sloan maintained
from that day that he had been set up on the possession and trafficking charges
and that evidence had been planted while he was in the custody of drug squad
detective Stephen
Paton.
 Between May and
December 2000, Paton (left) allegedly made at least 14 unauthorised purchases from three
drug companies under the
guise of police investigation work.
A court later heard
that
Paton lied to a company where he was buying pure pseudoephedrine, the active
ingredient in speed, saying it was an operation involving the National Crime
Authority.
In another allegedly
unauthorised purchase,
Paton and fellow drug squad detective, Malcolm
Rosenes, allegedly duped a Mitcham chemical company.
The company was
conned into selling them
illicit chemicals.
On March 31,
2001,
Paton resigned from the police force.
In later court
hearings,
Paton's legal representatives said that he'd left to join Queensland
Police.
In May 2001, Robert Sloan
appeared in court and pleaded not guilty on charges of trafficking and
possessing pseudoephedrine and methylamphetamine.
He pleaded guilty to other minor
drug charges.
Paton's evidence had been
critical in the case and Sloan was convicted and jailed receiving a maximum
sentence of four years and four months.
On July 31, 2001,
Paton was
arrested for trafficking and possessing a commercial quantity of drugs.
He was remanded to the highest
security wing of the Port Phillip Prison, locked away with some of the worst
prisoners in the system.
Paton was granted
bail on August 10, 2001.
His solicitor Joe
Gullaci, told the Magistrates' Court that his clients' life had been
threatened after he was remanded into custody.
"After twenty
years in the police force there are a lot of people in jail who would like to
get their hands on him", Gullaci
said.
At
Paton's hearing,
the court heard that two detectives bought chemicals used in illegal drug
manufacturing on the pretext they were investigating corrupt police.
It was alleged that
Paton abused his position in the drug squad to buy chemicals worth millions of
dollars on the black market, none of which has been recovered.
The court heard
that Paton could have easily used his expertise gained in the squad to produce
and distribute huge quantities of amphetamines.
A Police Corruption
detective accused Paton of illegally buying more than 500,000 Sudafed tablets
and copious amounts of other chemicals used to make
amphetamines while he was the liaison officer between
the drug squad and chemical companies.
During the bail
hearing for Malcolm Rosenes
on August 30, 2001,, it was claimed that Sloan had threatened that he'd taken out a
jail house contract on the life of Rosenes.
The former drugs
squad detective said that he was told by Sloan that he was going to kill him,
"I don't care where or when", Sloan was alleged to have said.
These claims were
dismissed by the bikie as being "incredulous and pathetic."
"Rosenes
had nothing to do with my case,. I don't know the man, It's an absolute
lie" Sloan said.
On August 31,
2001, Sloan successfully
appealed to the states highest court after former drug squad detectives Stephen
Paton and Malcolm
Rosenes were arrested.
Sloan was freed from
jail when the Court of Appeals took the rare step of releasing a prisoner whose
convictions for serious drug offences were based on the evidence of a drug squad
officer recently charged of similar crimes.
The evidence of
Paton and other arresting drug squad officers was seriously queried by the Court of
Appeal.
Sloan's barrister,
Len Harnett, said if he and the rest of Sloan's legal team had known that
Paton was then under investigation for serious criminal conduct, he would have used
that to attack the credibility of
Paton, a very important witness.
The Crown reversed
its decision to oppose Sloan's bail.
Sloan was bailed
on $5000 surety and other conditions to appear in October for an application for
leave to appeal against his conviction and sentence.
On April 9, 2002, it
was reported in the Herald Sun that Sloan planned to sue police as the office of
the Director of Public Prosecutions indicated in the County Court in Geelong it
would not be pursuing Mr Sloan's case.
After an application by Sloan's
solicitor Michael Coghlan, the DPP announced a nolle prosequi - the permanent
discontinuation of the charges - in that matter.
In a letter to the DPP, Mr Coghlan argued that
"complications could arise if the Crown sought to call Mr Paton in Mr
Sloan's re-trial.
Sloan told the Herald Sun he was very
relieved but also a little disappointed with the DPP's decision.
"I thought they might say sorry," said
the father-of-three. "I always said I was set up and now I have been
vindicated."
Asked why he thought police would plant drugs on
him, he replied: "Probably because I am in a motorcycle gang."
Sloan told The Age that he was pleased the
matter was over. "It's been a long haul," he said. "It was
obvious that someone put the drugs there but it certainly wasn't me.
Sloan said he would take civil action against
the Victoria Police.
As Sloan was being told he was a free
man, the former detective, who Mr Sloan claimed in court had set him up, was
appearing in Melbourne Magistrates Court to face drugs charges allegedly
committed while he was working for the drug squad.
Stephen Paton faced Melbourne
Magistrates' Court, where he waived his right to a preliminary hearing and
reserved his plea on charges involving at least $1 million worth of illicit
drugs he was alleged to have bought from chemical companies.
In doing so, Mr Paton opted not to test
immediately the allegations.
Mr Paton was bailed on a $100,000 surety to
appear in the County Court where he will face four charges of trafficking and
possessing commercial quantities of amphetamines.
On
April 29, 2002 it was revealed in the Age that several cases involving Malcolm
Rosenes and Stephen Paton would be reviewed.
A special
police taskforce re-opened up to 12 drug squad cases after allegations that
evidence has been fabricated and that some convictions could be unlawful.
On
January 14, 2003,
the Age reported that Sloan
had lodged a lawsuit against three drug
squad members, Victorian police Chief Commissioner Christine
Nixon, and the State of Victoria for unspecified damages.
The father of three said he had to
endure the "unpleasant" experience of five months in Port Phillip
Prison for something he did not do.
"They completely altered my
life. They should give me enough money to re-alter my life again," he told
AAP.
Mr Sloan, who had to borrow
money to pay the $60,000 he has racked up in legal bills was suing for
damages, costs and interest.
Mr Sloan said his time in jail
affected his children - now aged four, 15 and 17 - and his health.
He had to be taken to hospital once
a week while in jail to receive chemotherapy for a nerve disease that is
aggravated by stress.
"You can't get more stressful
than being in jail for something you haven't done," he said.
"I want some form of
satisfaction. I want compensation for the court costs and for what they did to
me. They assaulted me and put a gun in my (then) two-year-old daughter's
face."
The claim, lodged in the Geelong
County Court, had yet to be served on the defendants, and a date for the case
had not been set.
A spokesman for Ms Nixon, Kevin
Loomes, said Victoria Police had not received a writ or summons.
He said it was inappropriate to
comment before the details of the writ were known.
On June 20, 2003 a
judge announced that Paton
would spend three years in jail after saying his actions had demeaned the force.
Paton's
malicious crimes had been conducted for the "sole purpose of monetary
gain", County Court Judge Michael McInerney said.
Paton was jailed for six years with a minimum non-parole term of three years.
Inmates in Port Phillip Prison's high-security
Charlotte unit had already taunted Paton in the lead-up to his
sentencing.
Jail sources said death threats had been flying
at the disgraced former detective.
Inmates goaded Paton with taunts such
as, "You're dead, dog. You're fucked."
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