Prison guards Giovanna Cavaretta and Jacque Maloney charged with intimidation of inmates set to give evidence at Wayne Astill inquiry
Two prison guards have been charged by State Crime Command detectives for allegedly stalking witnesses who were to give evidence at the inquiry into rapist prison guard Wayne Astill.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Two female prison guards have been charged with allegedly intimidating inmates who were to give evidence at a major inquiry into serial rapist prison guard Wayne Astill earlier this year.
Giovanna Cavaretta, 66, was arrested at Granville Police Station on Monday morning, where she was charged with stalking/intimidating and misconduct in public office.
Sources said it would be alleged Cavaretta induced a woman to sign documents discrediting a fellow inmate who was set to testify against Astill at the upcoming inquiry, but was granted police bail to appear before Parramatta Local Court next month.
Carvetta’s arrest comes little more than a month after the arrest of Jacque Maloney, another Corrective Services NSW employee.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal both Carvetta and Maloney were charged under Strike Force Pylane, which was set up to investigate the reported attempts to cover up information about Astill’s abuse of inmates.
Astill was in 2022 jailed for a minimum of 15 years after being found guilty on 27 charges for his abuse of sexually inmates while working at the Dillwynia Correctional Centre in Sydney’s west.
Detectives from the Corrective Services Investigation Unit, part of State Crime Command’s Robbery and Serious Crime Squad, began investigating under Strike Force Pylane last July.
Last month detectives arrested and charged Maloney, 41, for allegedly intimidating a female inmate who had been under her watch at a facility in Emu Plains.
Sources said that inmate was a high-profile individual who gave evidence at the Astill inquiry under the pseudonym, “Witness C”.
It is understood one of the allegations against Maloney was that she interfered with the inmates preparations to provide testimony to the inquiry.
Maloney was charged with two counts of stalking/intimidating and misconduct in public office and last faced Penrith Local Court on October 4, where bail was continued until her next court date on November 29. She is yet to enter a plea.
The Astill inquiry was overseen by the Honourable Peter McClellan, KC, who ruled the rapist should never have even been hired by Corrective Services NSW in 1999 - let alone promoted to boss of Dillwynia jail - because of allegations made against him in 1996.
Mr McClellan found that in his time overseeing Dillwynia, the prison became a “viper pit” and “very toxic environment” which ultimately “failed the inmates”.
“Instead of investigating the rumours, the management of the gaol sought to suppress them at multiple levels,” Mr McClellan wrote.
In the wake of the Astill inquiry, Corrective Services NSW set up a phone line on which inmates could make anonymous reports of “sexual misconduct” while behind bars.
Recently released figures revealed 515 phone calls have been made in just the 10 months since it was launched in December.
Do you have a story for The Daily Telegraph? Message 0481 056 618 or email tips@dailytelegraph.com.au
Originally published as Prison guards Giovanna Cavaretta and Jacque Maloney charged with intimidation of inmates set to give evidence at Wayne Astill inquiry
Join the conversation
Watch: Tobacconist blows up in suspected arson attack
A northern NSW tobacconist has erupted in flames overnight in a suspected arson attack, with firefighters scrambling to extinguish the blaze. Watch the moment it explodes.
Read more
Sydney pub new battleground between bar baron and financiers
An embattled hospitality baron’s popular Sydney pub has become a battleground for his aggrieved financiers, with a fence put through the middle of the venue after his empire collapsed into administration.
Read more