Integrity Care director charged with assault after allegedly spitting in the face of a witness linked to Annie Smith neglect investigation

The investigation into the tragic death of disabled woman Annie Smith has taken another twist as a police target is charged with a disgusting assault on a key witness.

One of the directors of the company at the centre of a police investigation into the tragic death of disabled woman Annie Smith has been charged with the assault of a key witness in the inquiry.

Huntfield Heights man Philip John Greenland allegedly verbally abused and then spat in the face of the female witness after encountering her at a southern suburbs service station.

Greenland, 57, is one of three directors of Integrity Care, the subject of the wider police and coronial investigation into Ms Smith’s death in April 2020.

On January 4, Greenland was also charged with intimidating a witness – the same female – after he confronted and threatened her at the South Adelaide Football Club on December 29 last year.

During the investigation into that incident, South Coast CIB detectives learned of the alleged spitting incident on September 27 last year at a service station on Gulfview Rd at Christies Beach.

The female witness did not report that incident to police at the time.

Rosemary Maione leaves the Adelaide Women's Prison with her son after being released on bail in August 2020. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Greenland has been given police bail with conditions including that he not contact or approach the witness and will face both charges when he appears in Christies Beach Magistrates Court next month.

The female witness, a former employee of Integrity Care, has given Major Crime detectives a comprehensive statement as part of the wider investigation into Ms Smith’s death and the operations of the company.

Integrity Care directors Philip John Greenland and Amy-June Collins.

Disability neglect victim, Ann Marie Smith at her brother's wedding in 1999.

Disgraced carer Rosa Maione, 68, who was employed by Integrity Care, in July last year pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Ms Smith. She will appear in the Supreme Court for sentencing submissions next month.

Ms Smith, 54, died from profound septic shock, multiple organ failure from severe pressure sores and malnutrition, having been admitted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital with severely ulcerated and infected tissue on her upper thighs and buttocks.

Police alleged Maione left Ms Smith living in a putrid, almost sedentary state without adequate food in a urine and faeces-soaked cane chair in the lounge room of her Kensington Park home for almost a year before her death on April 6, 2020.

The Sunday Mail can also reveal a claim of legal professional privilege over thousands of documents seized by Major Crime detectives from the former offices of Integrity Care at Edwardstown in September 2020 has just been resolved.

Major Crime detectives seize evidence from Integrity Care's office in Edwardstown in 2020. Picture: Tom Huntley

The claim, made by lawyers engaged by Mr Greenland and fellow directors Amy-June Collins and her sister Allison Maree Virgo, halted the investigation for nine months while an independent legal body examined the documents and decided which were legitimately covered by the claim.

Detectives are undertaking the painstaking task of examining the documents – which include client files, employee timesheets, rosters, correspondence and other relevant material on computer hard drives – that were seized from Integrity Care’s Edwardstown premises and the Huntfield Heights home of Greenland and Collins.

The Major Crime investigation is examining if the actions or conduct of Integrity Care SA’s directors contributed to Ms Smith’s death in any way. Detectives last year told The Advertiser that while some Integrity Care staff had co-operated with the investigation, others were declining to answer “even the simplest of questions’’ and were refusing to co-operate.

The ongoing police investigation is also trying to locate $35,000 worth of custom jewellery and a large cash inheritance left to Ms Smith. They are also investigating who took out $70,000 worth of loans in her name.

Custom-made solid gold jewellery worth tens of thousands of dollars is missing from the Kensington Park home of disabled woman Ann Marie Smith, police have discovered.

Resolving the legal professional privilege claim has also allowed the SafeWork SA investigation into Integrity Care’s operations to resume. Its inquiry has to be completed by April to comply with the two-year statutory requirement for any prosecution to be launched.

An NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission investigation into Ms Smith’s death is also ongoing. It has so far resulted in Integrity Care being fined $12,600 for failing to report Ms Smith’s death within 24 hours, revoking its registration and banning it from operating in the NDIS.

In June last year it also banned Ms Collins for life from working in the disability sector.

“That investigation is ongoing, and as more information becomes available the NDIS Commission will take decisions about any further regulatory actions,’’ a commission spokesman said.