The Snitch: Brutally stabbed cop Jacob Vella makes big decision
A policeman who was brutally stabbed in the neck during a routine arrest has used the near-death experience to change his life. Plus, how chef beat a murder charge and the hole Sam Burgess’ NRL retirement leaves in legal circles.
NSW
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Six months ago, Constable Jacob Vella was on death’s door after a routine arrest turned violent. Allegedly confronted by a spear-wielding man inside a Western Sydney home, Vella was stabbed in the neck before his colleagues dragged him to safety.
But after bouts of emergency surgery, it appears Vella has come out of the very close call with a great appreciation for the important things in life — love. The 24-year-old dropped a knee last weekend to propose to his long-term girlfriend Emma.
“The smile on my face says it all … so happy to be able to spend forever with this beautiful woman,” he wrote on Instagram.
“You truly make me smile every single day and I will forever be one lucky guy to have you by my side.”
His life outside the cops as a professional bodybuilder has undoubtedly helped his ongoing recovery.
While the fit and fighting constable is taking some much-needed R&R, it is unclear when he will return to work at Liverpool Police Station.
Two men have been charged over the alleged attack.
CHEF, THE BAKER AND A SILK
It helps to have friends in high places. For Newcastle chef Ben Batterham, it led to top Sydney barrister Winston Terracini SC representing him in his murder trial.
It turns out the link was that “The Terra” is a long-time member of the exclusive Newcastle Club, where Batterham worked as a chef, and is friends with the club’s secretary and CEO Ian Baker. So when Mr Batterham was charged with the murder of burglar Ricky Slater, who broke into his Hamilton home in 2016 to steal a handbag, Mr Baker put in a call to the barrister.
It turned out to be a good move, with Mr Batterham found not guilty in the NSW Supreme Court sitting at Newcastle.
The Newcastle Club is the city’s fanciest private club. We’re told Mr Terracini for years visited as a guest of a friend before the club’s hierarchy invoked section five of the Good Bloke Act 1900 and requested he become a fully fledged member.
GUESS WHO?
Which crook is rumoured to have received favourable treatment behind bars in exchange for VIP access to exclusive Sydney establishments? The Snitch hears the colourful character tried to curry favour with a maximum security guard by ensuring he’d get his name on the door and skip the line at popular nightspots. This was in the pre-lockout law days when Sydney still had a pulse after 8pm. How times have changed. He might struggle to cut such a deal these days.
PASS THE TV GUIDE
NSW Supreme Court Justice Geoff Bellew and Office of the DPP second-in-charge Peter McGrath SC are set to have sizeable holes in their midweek schedules in 2020.
Why? Because rugby league bad boys Sam and George Burgess have left the NRL.
Bellew and McGrath play the respective roles of judge and prosecutor equivalents at the NRL judiciary, which sits on Tuesday and Wednesday nights during the NRL season to decide if players should be suspended. And the Burgess boys have been their best customers during their NRL careers. Time will tell if anyone can fill their mud-splattered boots.
Got a snitch? Contact Ava.benny-morrison@news.com.au or Brenden.hills@news.com.au