Judge directs jury to find barrister Alastair McDougall not guilty of perjury

A jury was directed to find a high-profile barrister not guilty of perjury, on the first day of his Brisbane District Court trial.

A high-profile criminal barrister has been found not guilty of perjury, after a judge, who decided he had no case to answer, directed a jury to return the verdict on the first day of the trial.

Alastair McDougall had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charge that alleged he knowingly gave false testimony at a Crime and Corruption Commission coercive hearing in 2019.

The Crown alleged the false testimony was that he said he had not discussed taking cash payments from clients, with solicitor Adam Magill, who was then subject of a police investigation.

Alastair McDougall

Adam Magill. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jono Searle

It was alleged the false testimony touched upon a matter that was material to a question then pending in proceedings.

Brisbane District Court Judge Richard Jones accepted defence counsel Saul Holt QC’s submissions that there was no case to answer.

After directing the jury to return a not-guilty verdict, Judge Jones discharged Mr McDougall, who was hugged by family and friends outside the courtroom.

Crown prosecutor Joshua Phillips had called only one witness, a police officer attached to the CCC, but did not ask him any questions, apart from his name and where he worked.

After co-defence counsel Craig Eberhardt cross-examined Acting Detective Senior Sergeant Peter Roddick, the prosecutor closed the Crown case.

The Crown had based its case on legally bugged phone conversations between Magill and Mr McDougall, almost 19 months before the CCC hearing.

Recordings of the pair speaking on April 7 and 8, 2017, after Magill’s home and office had been raided, were played to the jury.

In one conversation Magill said he believed the raid was about allegations of money laundering and fraud.

In part of one conversation between the pair on April 8, 2017, Magill said: “You do a cash job for a bloke, that’s it, the job’s done and you get paid for it.’’

Eighteen and a half months later, Mr McDougall was given a notice to attend a CCC hearing about his knowledge of the involvement of Magill and others in money laundering and other criminal activities.

A second notice required him to attend a CCC hearing about his knowledge of the involvement of Magill and others in fraud and other criminal activities.

Mr McDougall was asked if he had had any discussions with Magill “more generally about the practice of taking cash payments’’, to which he replied “no’’.

“In my view the question asked is so vague as to cause some real concern about what weight could be placed on the answer given,’’ Judge Jones said.

He said the Crown case failed on that point.

Judge Jones said he found it difficult to articulate how the matter could be left to the jury, with such a “somewhat vague and ambiguous question”.

He also questioned how the answer could be said to be material to the investigation of Magill’s alleged fraud or any other criminal activity.

Adam Magill will face a committal hearing on Wednesday on charges of aggravated fraud, fraudulent falsification of records and aggravated money laundering, arising from a CCC investigation into his law firm.