Accused NCA bomber Domenic Perre guilty of assaulting police officer by spitting on him in prison
Alleged NCA bomber Domenic Perre has been found guilty of assault after spitting on a police officer who visited him in prison.
Police & Courts
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Alleged NCA bomber Domenic Perre committed assault by spitting on a police officer who visited him in his Remand Centre cell, a court has ruled.
On Tuesday, the Adelaide Magistrates Court found Perre guilty of one count of aggravated assault.
Perre – who elected not to take the stand at trial – was neither in court nor on video link to hear the decision, however, with defence counsel Gilbert Aitken saying his client was unwell in his cell.
In his verdict, Magistrate Jack Fahey said he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt the incident, in November 2018, unfolded precisely as police and prosecutors had described.
“In the present case, there was no conflict on the evidence because the court has not had the benefit of hearing evidence from the accused,” he said.
Perre has pleaded not guilty to one aggravated count of assault. He is also awaiting a Supreme Court verdict, having pleaded not guilty to counts of murder and attempted murder over the March 1, 1994, National Crime Authority parcel bombing.
Justice Kevin Nicholson has been deliberating upon his verdict in the NCA bombing case since September.
In the assault case, prosecutors alleged that, at the Adelaide Remand Centre in November 2018, he spat at SA Police Detective Brevett Sergeant Simon Cassell.
The officer claimed he went to Perre’s cell to see if he wanted to report another inmate for committing a “significant assault” against him.
However, Perre’s counsel told the court the incident never happened and was fabricated to make their client look like “a dog”, or prison informer.
In his verdict on Tuesday, Mr Fahey rejected those assertions.
He said it was clear to him, and would have been clear to Perre on the day, the officers were properly exercising their duties properly by seeking a statement from him about a separate alleged assault.
He said Perre was at “no forensic disadvantage” from the lack of CCTV footage, photographs or DNA analysis of the spit because the prosecution case “did not depend” on them.
“If there was a failure (by the officers) to do more, that failure does not detract from their evidence,” he said.
“I do not have any doubts about their evidence, I consider they were credible and reliable.
“I accept that the incident occurred as they stated.”
Mr Fahey will hear sentencing submissions next week – outside court, Mr Aitken said the verdict would likely be the subject of an appeal.
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