SA Police prosecutor Sergeant Abigail Foulkes pleads guilty to corruption charge arising from magistrate Bob Harrap case
An SA Police prosecutor embroiled in the magistrate Bob Harrap corruption scandal has admitted playing a role – all without stepping into the court’s dock or saying the word ‘guilty’.
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An SA Police prosecutor has confessed to corrupt behaviour involving former magistrate Bob Harrap – without having to stand in the dock of a court or say the word “guilty”.
On Monday, Sergeant Abigail Foulkes appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court – where she once prosecuted cases – to answer charges filed by ICAC.
Instead of doing so herself, however, Foulkes sat in the front row of the public gallery while her lawyer, Jessica Kurtzer, pleaded guilty on her behalf.
While none of Foulkes’ co-offenders, including Harrap, were required to sit in the dock during their extremely short 35-day prosecution, the others had to enter their own pleas.
Last week, Harrap pleaded guilty to two counts of deceiving another to benefit himself and one count of conspiracy to abuse public office.
His clerk, Melanie Jane Freeman, also pleaded guilty to deceiving another person to benefit her then-boss.
She handed over her driver’s licence so Harrap could lie about who was driving his government-issued car when it was detected committing a traffic offence.
Lawyer Catherine Jayne Moyse – daughter of corrupt ex-SA Police officer Barry Moyse – also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to abuse public office.
ICAC had alleged she and Harrap were improperly involved in the court case of a person named Hamish Nicholas James.
Harrap – who resigned before entering his pleas – Freeman and Moyse are each entitled to sentencing discounts of up to 40 per cent.
On Monday, at Ms Kurtzer’s request, Judge Stephen McEwen recorded Foulkes’ plea – to one count of deceiving a person to benefit another person – through counsel.
Foulkes admitted that, on May 19, she assisted Harrap to deceive a Courts Administration Authority staff member as to who was driving his car on March 24.
As a result of her actions, Harrap avoided demerit points for the traffic offence committed on that date.
Foulkes has been placed on restricted administrative duties since she was charged.
Meanwhile Claire O’Connor SC, for Freeman, asked her client’s case remain in the Magistrates Court given her co-operation with authorities.
“She was coerced into this offending, and her role was that of aiding and abetting,” she said.
Judge McEwen, however, said the interests of justice were better served by all four offenders being dealt with at the same time.
“All of the facts, and circumstances of mitigation, will equally be taken into account whether she’s dealt with here or in the District Court,” he said.
He ordered Foulkes and Freeman face the District Court, alongside Harrap and Moyse, next month.