Ex-police officer Troy Cridland teen sex crime trial comes to a close
A jury will decide if an ex-Northern Rivers cop accused of creating fake evidence to cover up having sex with a teen he was cheating on his partner with made an “honest and reasonable” mistake.
Regional News
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A jury will decide if a former Northern Rivers police officer accused of creating fake evidence to cover up having sex with a teenage girl he was cheating on his partner with made an “honest and reasonable” mistake.
Troy Cridland, 33, faced Lismore District Court for the closing arguments of the trial to determine if he knowingly had sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl, and if she was under his authority as a police officer at the time.
He is accused of having sexual intercourse with the teen girl in a police station and a police car on multiple occasions, in his capacity as a police officer, often wearing his police uniform between March and August 2020.
The issue of how the two met is if “critical importance” to the outcome of the trial, the court heard.
A jury will determine if Cridland knew the teenage girl he was cheating on his partner with was younger than 16, and if she was under his authority as a police officer when he had sex with her.
Mr Cridland admits having sexual intercourse while she was under 16, but is defending the charge on the basis he did not know she was 15 at the time.
If the jury finds he made an “honest and reasonable mistake” in assuming she was 16, then he would be entitled to be found not guilty.
The jury would also have to determine if he met her in the capacity of a police officer when she was 14, and therefore if he knew she was under 16 and had authority over her as a police officer.
Cridland claims he first met the girl on Tinder in February 2020, where she lied about being older than 16.
He further claims the first time the two had sex was in a tent in a police station garage on Mother’s Day in 2020 – at which point he says he believed she was 16.
Cridland told the court the last time they had a sexual encounter on August 30, she dropped the bomb that she was 15 and threatened to “ruin his life” if he did not “dump” his partner for her.
However, the crown argues Cridland knew her when she was 14 in his capacity as a police officer and there was an “accumulation of evidence” suggesting he was aware she was younger than 16.
The crown told the jury Cridland had engaged in “calculated deceit”, not only by cheating on his partner but by allegedly misleading investigators, faking evidence and lying to the jury during the trial.
The crown accused Cridland of creating fake evidence of a conversation between himself and the teen on Tinder.
The crown argued Cridland then attempted to cover his tracks when he learned he was being investigated.
Cridland claims he dropped his phone he used to take screenshots of the conversation, before “trading it in” at Ballina.
He then claims he stored these screenshots on a USB – which he “lost years ago” – and then printed them out in black and white to use as evidence at trial.
Cridland maintains the screenshots of the conversation – which show the teenage girl claiming to be older than 16 – are real, and denies faking them.
Cridland is also charged with perverting the course of justice.
The crown alleged CCTV footage showed Cridland standing outside a police station with the teen and her mother scrolling through her phone trying to find messages that would incriminate him.
He is also alleged to have said: “if they ask you if you were in a police car: ‘Say no’.”
Cridland is also accused of sending “dick pics” to the girl, and video of himself masturbating and denies attempting to use the teen for the production of child abuse material by asking her for “nudes” – with only the teenage girl’s testimony as evidence.
The jury is expected to begin deliberation next week.
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