Former Ryde mayor, Ivan Petch, charged with six fresh counts of giving false evidence to ICAC

Former Ryde mayor Ivan Petch has been hit with six fresh counts of giving false evidence to ICAC during an inquiry by the corruption watchdog.

Former state MP and Ryde mayor Ivan Petch has been hit with six fresh charges connected to his ICAC appearance. Picture: AAP Image/Joel Carrett

• Denistone West professor honoured for saving Tasmanian devils
• Professor Ivan Kennedy backs weedkiller Roundup after hysteria

Former Ryde mayor Ivan Petch will face serious charges of lying to the state’s corruption watchdog after a magistrate today dismissed an application that he was unfit to stand trial.

Pitch is alleged to have lied to the Independent Commission Against Corruption in 2013 when he gave evidence over accusations of blackmailing a former acting council general manager.

The 80-year-old was last year found guilty over the blackmail offence, but avoided jail in sentencing in the District Court.

He is now facing a separate matter in the Downing Centre Local Court, where he has been hit with six fresh counts of giving false evidence to ICAC during the 2013 inquiry by ICAC, codenamed “Operation Cavill”, into alleged misconduct by Petch and others.

Petch’s lawyers tried on Friday to get the latest matter dismissed on mental health grounds, bringing medical evidence before the court that showed he had cognitive impairment and suffered from heart and renal problems.

However, in handing down her judgment on the application today, Magistrate Susan McIntyre found holes in the evidence given about Petch’s health by neuropsychologist Jennifer Batchelor.

“The court was somewhat concerned with (Associate Professor) Batchelor’s sworn evidence (on Friday) and the interpretations in her original report on April 12,” Ms McIntyre told the court.

Pitch at the corner of Waterloo and Lane Cove roads in 2008, when he was still mayor of the district.

“In her initial report, Assoc Prof Batchelor was not absolutely persuaded that cognitive impairment was evident now or back in 2013 (in Petch).”

However, Ms McIntyre added that the neuropsychologist had said in her evidence on Friday it was “very probable” Petch, a former Gladesville State Liberal MP, had a cognitive impairment both now and six years ago, which affected his judgment.

The magistrate questioned how Assoc Prof Batchelor’s assessment could change so dramatically “with one more session just days later”.

She then dismissed the application and the first of several witnesses, former Ryde councillor Jeff Silvestro-Martin, was called as the Crown revisited the 2013 ICAC probe.

During Mr Silvestro-Martin’s evidence, the prosecution played a late-night telephone call from January 31, 2013, where Petch bragged about finding porn on then-general manager John Neish’s computer.

“It’s nearly all lesbians, mate,” Petch told Mr Silvestro-Martin during the phone call, as the pair shared their concerns about the performance of Mr Neish, who was pushing for a large-scale Civic Centre redevelopment.

Former general manager of Ryde council John Neish

Ryde Civic Centre, built in the 1960s

“This is the sort of stuff we give to the press,” Petch adds.

The Northern District Times’ council reporter at the time, Robbie Patterson, was the next to give evidence, confirming he had received stills of porn by Petch, which were alleged to have come from Mr Neish’s computer.

A phone conversation on February 1, 2013, between Mr Patterson, who is now The Manly Daily’s editor, and Petch was played to the court.

In it, Petch tells the reporter: “I’ve got a f***ing bombshell, mate.

“(Mr Neish) surfs the net for porn.”

Outside court, at about 4.30pm, Petch lashed out at the Times when it tried to take a photograph of him.

He grabbed this reporter’s phone and stomped on my laptop bag, which had fallen to the ground in the altercation, with his left foot — all the while alleging he was being assaulted.

Petch refused to let go of my phone, but I was available to wrestle it back and the laptop was not damaged.

I asked Petch how I had assaulted him and why a man who had held such respected positions for many years would act that way, but he did not answer.

The hearing continues before Magistrate McIntyre tomorrow.