Victoria Police accused of illegally tapping alibi witness in Jason Roberts murder case
Victoria Police are being sued by Jason Roberts’ ex-girlfriend after allegedly bugging her phone to discredit her testimony in the Silk-Miller murder case.
Police illegally tapped the mobile phone of an alibi witness in a desperate attempt to discredit her and save a decades old double murder conviction, a Supreme Court writ states.
Nicole Zammit is suing Victoria Police over a 15-week bugging campaign launched against her in 2021 after police became convinced she was conspiring with her ex-boyfriend, Jason Roberts, to give him a false alibi and help get him out of jail.
Roberts, at the time, was serving life in prison over the 1998 murders of Sgt Gary Silk and Sen Constable Rodney Miller.
The bugging of Ms Zammit’s phone began after Roberts was granted a retrial on the back of a corruption scandal this masthead exposed.
It involved police falsifying a crucial police statement, known as a “dying declaration”, which indicated there were two offenders who shot police officers Silk and Miller.
Roberts was ultimately acquitted of the murders at his retrial in 2022 after spending more than two decades in jail.
But Ms Zammit was a shock no show at the retrial.
Although police eaves droppers found no evidence of a conspiracy between Roberts and Ms Zammit, nor any contact between them since 2005, her writ states she was pressured out of testifying by “heavy handed” police who raided her and her sister’s homes.
The bugging operation led to police laying unrelated dishonesty charges against Ms Zammit, her sister Joanne Mizzo and her then partner John La Rocca and another person.
Ms Zammit was accused of fraudulently obtaining $1670.12 from her employer between March and June, 2021.
“The criminal proceedings caused Zammit to feel stressed, and fearful of repercussions should she participate in the Roberts second trial,” the writ states.
“In around May 2022, because of the stress and fear....Zammit decided she would not give evidence in Roberts’ retrial and communicated that to Roberts’ criminal lawyers soon after.”
The charges against Ms Zammit and her three co-accused were withdrawn last year.
The writ reveals police included in an affidavit in their successful bid to tap Ms Zammit’s phone that they were seeking to charge her with “Assist Offender Murder”.
It is claimed in the writ police had “no evidence” to investigate her over this charge, having two decades earlier probed her over the offence but not proceeded to a prosecution.
It is alleged police officers “improperly” added the charge to meet the benchmark for a surveillance warrant.
“By reason of Victoria Police’s reliance on the misleading contents of the affidavit, the warrant was improperly and/or illegally obtained,” the writ states.
Ms Zammit is the daughter of serial killer Bandali Debs, who was convicted of the Silk-Miller murders alongside Roberts in 2002.
Debs was later found to have murdered two women prior to the Silk-Miller ambush.
The latest legal wrangle in the saga comes a year after Victoria Police was ordered to pay $150,000 legal costs to Ms Zammit after their case against her collapsed.
The organisation is now staring down a major payout to Ms Zammit, Ms Mizzo and Mr La Rocca in damages.
Ms Mizzo and Mr La Rocca are also named as plaintiffs in the civil case.
Former homicide detective Ron Iddles is also suing the force over his treatment, having also been investigated over the Roberts matter.
Mr Iddles conducted a police review into Roberts’ conviction in 2012-2013 , dubbed Operation Rainmaker.
It was during Rainmaker that Ms Zammit first claimed Roberts was in bed with her when her father shot the police officers in Moorabbin.
Mr Iddles believes his phone was also unlawfully bugged by his former colleagues.
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Originally published as Victoria Police accused of illegally tapping alibi witness in Jason Roberts murder case
