Con Heliotis, QC,
told the Supreme Court that this recommendation by psychologist Dianne White meant the fracturing of his client's
family unless he was released.Mr Heliotis told Justice Katharine Williams that
his client was a 48-year-old widower who had brought up three children by
himself since their mother died.
Mr Heliotis said that if refused bail, his client
would have to wait at least two years -- in "barbaric" and
"inhumane" conditions of solitary confinement away from other
prisoners -- until his trial could be heard.
Earlier in the week Ms White had told the court she
was a qualified psychologist with a masters of psychology from the University of
New South Wales, and had been a registered psychologist until two years before.
When told that the university denied she had
qualified there as a psychologist, Ms White said that was "incorrect".
She also denied she had once been found guilty of
theft and put on a good behaviour bond.
Ms White told the court her qualifications were
at home and agreed to bring them to court in the afternoon.
But later the court
heard that the documents were locked in a cabinet, that Ms White's husband had
the key, and that he was uncontactable in a meeting and then in an exam.
However, Mr Heliotis told the court that
his client had been shattered to find out that Ms White had no psychology
qualifications.
He withdrew all her evidence and told Justice
Williams that another psychologist or psychiatrist would examine his client's
children, especially his 13-year-old daughter.
Prosecutor Jeremy Rapke, QC, told the court that
police would be investigating Ms White's evidence to see if she should face
charges.
Mr Heliotis later said Strawhorn's oldest son was
incredulous when he learnt through court proceedings that the family
friend who had acted as a counsellor was a fraud.
Describing the woman as a "pathological
liar", Mr Heliotis said she had been charged with three counts of
perjury and one of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Strawhorn had not yet been asked to plead
to his charges.
On August 20, 2003
the Age
reported that a judge was told Strawhorn would submit to 23 hours a day home detention so he could return to
his children.
Con Heliotis, QC, said Strawhorn was desperately needed by his two
sons and his daughter.
In a hearing before Justice Katharine Williams,
Mr Heliotis accused a police anti-corruption taskforce and prosecutors of
"playing God" in their opposition to Strawhorn's bail bid.
He said it was outrageous that Strawhorn was
being refused bail when police and the Office of Public Prosecutions had not
opposed it for another man he described as a dangerous career criminal.
Mr Heliotis said he had never previously asked
for more stringent bail conditions than those he sought for Strawhorn.
Under the proposal, Strawhorn would remain at his
house for 23 hours a day, with one hour between 11am and noon for shopping,
medical visits and other such requirements.
Prosecutor Jeremy Rapke, QC, said it
might sound harsh but the public interest had to take precedence over the
Strawhorn family.
He said police and prosecutors had opposed bail
for officers charged with related offences.
He said the other police had not been charged
with threatening to kill, and there was no evidence of selectivity in
prosecuting Strawhorn.
"It is my submission that this is a case of
egregious official corruption involving large scale, repetitive acts of drug
trafficking by a senior and trusted member of the drug squad," he said.
Mr Rapke disputed Mr Heliotis's estimate of a
two-year delay at least between Strawhorn being charged and facing trial.
He said a trial could take place early the
following year
if the case was presented to the Supreme Court.
He said reports suggested that Strawhorn's sons
were coping reasonably well with running a house and looking after their sister.
He said it was obvious their sister was missing
her father, but she appeared to be well adjusted and making her way in very
distressing circumstances.
Mr Rapke said Strawhorn had access to telephones,
visits by family members and lawyers, and had five hours a day out of his cell,
which was in a modern unit.
A week later, Strawhorn quest for freedom was
again denied.
His third application for bail was refused.
On September 4, 2003
the Age revealed former senior detective Paul
Firth, who led the prosecution of Tony Mokbel,
had been suspended by an
anti-corruption taskforce.
Mr Firth was named in a Melbourne court by
barrister Geoff Chettle, who was appearing for Mr Firth's former boss, Wayne Strawhorn.
Mr Chettle told the Melbourne Magistrates Court
that Mr Firth had been suspended, but that it was not clear whether he had been
charged.
Sen-Det Firth, the informant against
Mokbel,
charged him with 11 offences over an alleged $2 billion drug empire.
A bail application at Melbourne Magistrates'
Court heard he had assets of $20 million and a seven-figure defence fighting
fund.
Firth was suspended on full pay the previous July after
earlier returning to uniform duties.
He was suspected of having committed a jailable
offence.
A police spokesman at the time did not name Mr
Firth, who had not been charged with any offences, but confirmed that a senior
constable had been suspended "as part of the investigation conducted by the
Ceja taskforce".
Jeremy Rapke, QC, who headed a special Office of
Public Prosecutions team handling Ceja's cases, said that the finalisation of
Strawhorn's charges was delaying other prosecutions.
Mr Rapke said there were a number cases awaiting
trial in the criminal justice system that were being "held up by this (Strawhorn's)
case", which was not a complicated one.
He submitted that Strawhorn's committal be listed
in November, which, if he was later ordered to stand trial, could mean a Supreme
Court hearing in March or April.
Mr Chettle said he believed there were tactical
and logistical reasons for the Crown's position and denied any cases were being
affected by Strawhorn's or that it was uncomplicated.
Magistrate Angela Bolger agreed January was a
suitable date, subject to the availability of witnesses and court time.
Victoria Police Association secretary Paul
Mullett said no application for funding had yet been received from Mr Strawhorn.
The first two former drug squad detectives
charged, Paton and Rosenes, were refused legal funding.
At least two others had been funded for bail
applications.
A third, who had retired, would pay for his own
defence.
For assistance, police must persuade the
association they were acting in good faith and in the discharge of their duties.
In
the first week of March 2004, Strawhorn
pleaded not guilty to seven charges.
The
following week, he was
bailed.
On March 15, 2004, Magistrate
Angela Bolger released Strawhorn on bail with a $150,000 surety, ruling that a
two-year delay before the allegations of drug trafficking and threats to kill
came to trial formed exceptional circumstances.
But Ms Bolger rejected a defence
submission that Strawhorn's alleged threat to kill a senior corruption
investigator was simply a "throwaway line".
Ms Bolger, who listened to the
covert tape, said Strawhorn's words were "spoken with a sense of serious
deliberation and they demonstrate a purposefulness of intent".
She said any allegation of police
corruption "strikes at the heart of the administration of justice" but
that "a delay exceeding two years' duration... is in my view an exceptional
circumstance".
Strawhorn was ordered to report
to police three times a week, not contact or go within 500 metres of the senior
corruption investigator and surrender his passport.
The Age could not report all of
Ms Bolger's reasons for her decision because of a suppression order.
It was
alleged that Strawhorn made $80,000 from chemical sales made through informers.
Strawhorn's bank records showed
that between May and September 2000 he spent more than $14,000 on house
renovations.
The detective, whose salary was
$65,100 during the 1999-2000 financial year, also had $28,600 in untraced
deposits, according to a brief of evidence.
On June 21, 2004, ABC Radio's PM program reported
that the fall-out from Victoria's police corruption scandal was
spreading.
Nick McKenzie told listeners that allegations in
court suggested that corruption in the former drug squad may have involved
officers who were still serving in the force.
The allegations centred on the relationship between the detectives, a criminal
turned police informer, and the late Lewis Moran.
The informer claimed that Wayne Strawhorn, the detectives' boss, illegally pocketed up to half
a million dollars.
But in court, the informer also claimed that the other detectives forced
him to cover up the corrupt dealings that he'd had with Strawhorn.
That's a claim those detectives strenuously
denied.
The theory that corrupt police rarely act alone
was being tested in the Melbourne Magistrates Court, in the committal of
two men who were allegedly involved in a drug syndicate headed by Lewis Moran.
In 2001, the syndicate was being investigated by
Strawhorn.
But defence barrister, Chris Dane QC, had also subjected
four other police officers who worked under Strawhorn to intense scrutiny
about their own conduct.
Much of the cross-examination related to statements made by a criminal
informer, who was passing on chemicals to Lewis Moran, while being monitored
by the drug squad.
A statement from the informer read that on one occasion, the informer
received money from Lewis Moran that was given to Senior Sergeant Wayne
Strawhorn.
STATEMENT EXCERPT: I was paid $10,000 cash by
Lewis Moran (left) in return for the
red phosphorus. The money I received on this day was paid to the drug squad.
I therefore believe the money I received on that day was paid to Wayne
Strawhorn.
Such a transaction would not have been unusual had it been
properly logged by the drug squad.
But, as evidence from the informer alleged, at least some of the $10,000 he
gave Strawhorn was pocketed illegally, part of a total of up to half a
million dollars the informer said Strawhorn made on the side.
When it came to disclosing that transaction in a statement, the informer told
the Court three still serving officers working under Strawhorn – Detectives
Martin Allison, Victor Anastasiadis and
David Bartlett forced him to lie.
The informer also claimed other statements he'd signed for the drug squad were
false, and that he was pressured to sign such statement.
STATEMENT EXCERPT: …Partly from the fact that Bartlett
and Anastasiadis were
on Strawhorn's staff, I felt that I didn't have any choice in the
circumstances I found myself in.
Believe it or not, I signed it because I was scared.
Asked by the defence barrister to explain his fear, the
informant told the Court…
"It was gun-in-your-face scared."
CHRIS DANE: Well he didn't actually raise a gun to your face?
INFORMANT: No, Marty Allison didn't do that. I had that happen on a couple of
occasions from Wayne Strawhorn.
They're all the same gang as far as I'm concerned. Any arguments that I had
with Marty or Bartlett
or Firth or Ranna (phonetic), they'd be straight on the
phone to Strawhorn.
They'd pass their phone to me and Strawhorn would give me a mouthful.
CHRIS DANE: So you had no choice but to commit perjury under the direction of
these officers?
INFORMANT: That's correct.
The detectives named all denied the claims, including Senior
Sergeant Martin Allison.
He told the Court the informer simply had no memory
of the $10,000 transaction at the time he was asked to make his statement.
But Detective Allison was also implicated in other untoward behaviour.
The Court heard he allegedly approved and encouraged contact between the
informer and Senior Sergeant Strawhorn, before Strawhorn was charged, but at a
time at which any such contact had been banned.
A taped conversation between Allison and the informer was read out in court.....
INFORMANT: Why does he keep ringing me?
MARTIN ALLISON: 'Cause I asked him to.
INFORMANT: Why, he's not even in the drug squad.
MARTIN ALLISON: Yeah, I know that. Why? The investigation's still running, and
I find it to my advantage because you respond better to him.
Under cross-examination the informer also said detectives
threatened to expose his activities to the Moran family if he didn't
cooperate.
He told the Court detectives Allison and another officer bumped into him while
he was with Lewis Moran, an incident he said, the police found funny.
INFORMANT: It was always a funny topic of conversation for them, for the fact
that I might die and they could just charge Lewis with murder.
NICK MCKENZIE: Another focus of the defence barrister during the committal was
the movement of 35 boxes of Logicin, from the drug squad to Lewis
Moran.
Logicin contains the chemical, pseudoephedrine – a crucial component in the
manufacture of speed.
Detectives David Bartlett and Paul Firth picked up the Logicin from the
Central Property Management Unit of the Victoria Police before giving them to
the informer.
But the Court heard that two detectives mistakenly picked up 41 boxes instead
of 35.
The drug squad detectives maintained 35 boxes were passed on to
Lewis Moran,
and the excess boxes were returned to the Management Unit.
However, the Court was told notes made at the unit showed eight boxes of
Logicin instead of the required six, were returned.
That is, two extra boxes
had been returned.
Under intense cross-examination, Detective David Bartlett could not explain
where the extra two boxes had come from, putting it down to an accounting
error.
But, defence barrister Chris Dane QC told the Court the additional boxes
presented the drug squad with the capacity to manufacture amphetamine.
CHRIS DANE: Who are you protecting?
DAVID BARTLETT: Nobody.
CHRIS DANE: You are protecting somebody who has seized a number of boxes.
DAVID BARTLETT: That is not true.
CHRIS DANE: The lot of you were doing it on the side and Wayne Strawhorn will
have to wear it for the rest of you.
DAVID BARTLETT: That is not true.
Three of the detectives accused of corruption in court
were
still serving, one in the new drug squad. The fourth officer accused in court,
Paul Firth, had been suspended.
On the witness stand, the police repeatedly rejected the informer's claims.
But, a lawyer for internal investigators told the
Court there may be issues
raised during the hearing that touch on ongoing investigations.
The court convicted Strawhorn on
October 18, 2006
He
sat stoically in the box of the Supreme Court - as he had done every day of his
four-month trial - as a 12-person jury found him guilty of trafficking 2kg of
pure pseudoephedrine to Mark
Moran in May 2000 for $13,900.
He arranged for a junior police officer to
purchase the pseudoephedrine from a pharmacy company, he then passed it on to
another police officer and it finally made its way to Moran.
Strawhorn, a 29-year veteran of the force, stood
stony-faced as the jury read out four "not guilty" verdicts before
convicting him of the most serious charge.
The crucial witness in the case against him was
former colleague Sen-Det Stephen Paton.
Paton,
jailed for trafficking in 2003, told investigators he committed the crimes on
Strawhorn's instruction.
He said Strawhorn ran a corrupt fiefdom at the
squad in the late 1990s.
Strawhorn admitted during a covertly recorded
conversation in 2003 that his whole team appeared to have spun out of control.
ESD Insp Peter De Santo told the jury there were
allegations of "endemic" corruption at the drug squad.
Strawhorn himself said during a recorded
conversation: "It doesn't pay to be a whistleblower, as I tell people, if
they ever come to me and say 'Look I have discovered corruption', tell 'em to
f--- off, tell 'em to talk to someone else."
On December 11, 2006 Strawhorn was sentenced
to seven years' jail.
Strawhorn - who denied guilt - was stony faced as
he was sentenced to a minimum four years inside.
Justice David Habersberger said Strawhorn's
conduct undermined public confidence in the police force and betrayed police
officers.
On
December 21, 2007,
Strawhorn was ordered to forfeit
$68,000 of the superannuation he accrued
while working in the force.
Prosecutors made an application before
the Supreme Court for Strawhorn's
sentence to include a "fine"
made up of his superannuation.
The penalty is designed as an extra
punishment for people who have abused
their position in public office.
Justice David Habersberger ruled
Strawhorn should pay $68,000 - the
portion of his superannuation
contributed by his employer between the
time of his offending and his arrest.
He said he took into account that
Strawhorn had significant debts, a
teenage daughter to support, had not
earned an income since 2003 and would
find it difficult to work and support
himself upon his release.
Justice Habersberger said he also
considered that for the large portion of
his career Strawhorn was a respected and
decorated policeman.
Wayne Geoffrey Strawhorn
