Sergeant Adam Buckley tells inquest police officer Russell Nash, who died by suicide, ‘manipulated’ police band boss
A police sergeant accused of bullying within the SA Police Band says an officer who died by suicide was a “narcissist” who drank on duty.
Shock allegations of drinking on duty have been aired as an alleged police “bully” took the stand during an inquest into the suicide of a long-serving sergeant “humiliated” within the SA Police Band.
The inquest has heard police officer Russell Nash tragically took his own life on Christmas Eve 2021 after alleged bullying by a senior supervisor.
Sgt Nash, 43, was redeployed as Band Master of the Police Band in February 2019 during a WorkCover-led Return to Work scheme.
Police Band Drum Major, Sergeant Adam Buckley, took the stand on Tuesday and told the court during the return from a performance on the Yorke Peninsula for the Kadina Cornish Festival, Sergeant Nash pulled an alcoholic beverage from his bag and began drinking on duty.
“If it was done surreptitiously it probably would have gone unnoticed, but the fact he pulled it out of his backpack on the bus and went “hey-yay, click” he made a point of it,” he said.
“(I saw a) white can with a red logo on it which looked like a Jack Daniels-type design … I was probably about 7m from him, it looked familiar to me.”
Sergeant Buckley said he was “very certain” the can contained alcohol and the band was not off duty when Sergeant Nash started drinking.
The court heard it was reported but Sergeant Buckley did not intervene because he “wasn’t in a managerial position”.
On Tuesday, Sergeant Buckley told State Coroner David Whittle Sergeant Nash “manipulated” then-Officer in Charge of the band, Linda Warner.
“So your observations that ‘in the right environment, Nash could channel the birds from the trees and used his skills to manipulate Warner’ – what observations are you basing those on?” lawyer Chris Kummerow asked Sergeant Buckley.
“I’m basing on the way he interacted with her, Linda Warner liked the attention of the men in the band – Russell gave her that in spades,” Sergeant Buckley said.
“She liked to be part of the group, she liked to be part of the centre of attention. There was a close-knit group that were always surrounding her.”
Sergeant Buckley told the court he thought Sergeant Nash manipulated Ms Warner into believing he was doing better than he was.
During his testimony, Sergeant Buckley broke down on the stand as he spoke about Sergeant Nash’s presentation prior to his death where he seemed “agitated”.
“I reflected back on it and my thoughts are that clearly there must have been something going on … I just sort of go, well clearly something was starting to happen and I just felt that maybe I had noticed something and did I do enough? I still think about it.”
Sergeant Buckley told the court an amicable start between he and Sergeant Nash later “changed to the point that Nash’s narcissistic tendencies became apparent”.
“By making me feel small and unimportant or not part of the team,” Sergeant Buckley said.
He conceded he was not privy to conversations Ms Warner had with Sergeant Nash in her role as manager, nor that Ms Warner was in charge of his own performance management after an internal band investigation.
That investigation, authored by Task Force PORTUS, included accusations band members were bullied by Sergeant Buckley – for which he later publicly apologised.
Sergeant Buckley told the court that performance management removed his rostering permissions, time sheet management, leading the band on parade and other duties but was “directionless”.
That damning internal review was told Sergeant Buckley acted “disgracefully, maliciously and dangerously” before his band management responsibilities were reduced – but were later reinstated.
The court has previously heard Sergeant Nash took his own life after alleged “excessive and unwarranted display of power” by former SAPOL Chief Inspector Cameron Devey, who was then overseeing the band.
Sergeant Nash’s family has also called on SA Police to address what they claim are deadly “systemic and cultural failures” within the force.
