The Snitch: The legal eagle who prosecutes NRL players
BY day he prosecutes some of the state’s hardened criminals. By night, he goes after NRL stars. The Snitch can reveal the NRL judiciary prosecutor — and he’s no pushover, as Roosters star Latrell Mitchell discovered.
NSW
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BY day he prosecutes some of the state’s hardened criminals. By night, he goes after NRL stars.
The Snitch can reveal the NRL judiciary prosecutor — and he’s no pushover, as Roosters star Latrell Mitchell discovered.
LEADING SILK HAS NRL PLAYING BY THE RULES
HE’S one of the most feared men in rugby league, and he wears a wig and doesn’t set foot on a footy field.
Peter McGrath SC is becoming something of a grim reaper in the league world with Roosters star Latrell Mitchell the latest big-name star to end up on the wrong side of his skill set.
McGrath, a barrister by day, also works as the prosecutor at the NRL judiciary on Tuesday nights when there’s a matter to heard.
His arguments this week saw Mitchell banned from playing in the grand final qualifier for his crusher tackle on the Sharks’ Josh Dugan.
Anyone who thinks the judiciary might be a Mickey Mouse operation is mistaken. It employs some of the heaviest hitters in the legal fraternity.
McGrath is a senior counsel and is one of two 2ICs at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
He has worked on some of the state’s most high-profile criminal cases including that of Daniel Kelsall, who murdered Morgan Huxley on Sydney’s north shore, and Harriet Wran.
The irony of McGrath’s latest judiciary work: he’s a Roosters fan.
We’re told he’s copped flak from his family members.
“He also cost the (NSW) Blues the 2015 Origin series,” one source said.
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That was a reference to Greg Bird being suspended for the entire series after dumping Dragons winger Jason Nightingale on his head.
Presiding over the judiciary is Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Bellew, who recently jailed Ron Medich, refused to confirm he was a Bears fan and is rumoured to have the final say over the flavour of the pizzas ordered on Tuesday nights.
CAUGHT OUT CRYING WOLF
POLICE spent 194 hours investigating claims by the ex of TV personality Deborah Hutton that he allegedly used a golf club and a ladder to fight off an intruder who left a rape kit at her house.
That was before they charged Robert Dulhunty with allegedly making up the elaborate story as part of a ruse last month to stop Hutton from breaking up with him and kicking the 49-year-old out of her house in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
He allegedly told police he was asleep in the Bronte house while Hutton was in Brisbane when he heard the zipping sounds of the flyscreens being slashed by a balaclava-wearing man on a ladder who said “meow”.
Dulhunty allegedly woke up his 11-year-old son and gave the boy his mobile with instructions to call the police if he did not come back in a couple of minutes before he went to confront the intruder with a pitching wedge.
Outside, he allegedly told police he hit the man with the golf club and smashed him in the ribs with the ladder before the intruder fled over the fence, leaving behind a backpack that contained zip ties, condoms and lubricant, among other items. The only problem was that detectives attended City Convenience Store in Coogee almost 194 hours later where CCTV footage allegedly showed Dulhunty buying the backpack and many of the items found in it.
Dulhunty has been charged over the affair and will face court again on November 9.
SUING FOR MALICIOUS PROSECUTION
KRISTEN Keskin, the wife of senior Lone Wolf bikie boss Erkan, has called in the experts to prove that photos that led to her being charged with child porn offences are actually her own kids.
Keskin was pulled off a Dubai-bound plane last month with her four kids and later charged with child porn offences.
In the Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday, her lawyer Kiki Kyriacou told the court the case could not progress further before an expert had viewed the pictures. The photos were seized from Ms Keskin’s home during a police raid and her husband was also charged.
But the charges against Erkan were withdrawn after his lawyers pointed out that they were harmless family photos of
his own kids. He is now threatening to sue the state for malicious prosecution.
LEGAL EAGLE SWAPS SIDES
AS her high-profile career putting bad guys behind bars comes to a close, speculation is brewing about where Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor Margaret Cunneen SC will go next. The Snitch understands State Chambers in Martin Place is a strong contender for Ms Cunneen’s move to the private bar.
Cunneen, who rose to prominence prosecuting the Skaf gang rapists in the 2000s, would be right at home among the chambers’ squabble of silks. It was revealed in March she would leave the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions early next year and swap sides to work in defence.