NSW Police, AFP witness claims he was double-crossed by cops in organised crime sting
A top secret witness who risked his life to help NSW Police and the AFP lock up criminals claimed he was double-crossed by cops.
Police & Courts
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A top secret witness who helped bring down members of an international organised crime network has sued police claiming they failed to protect him.
The man, who cannot legally be named, provided police information as a “human source” during an investigation into a “domestic and international” crime syndicate, the NSW Supreme Court was told.
The efforts of the man, who was a source for the NSW Police and Australian Federal Police, “contributed to the arrest and prosecution of several members of an organised crime network”, the court was told.
But he then sued the NSW Police in the Supreme Court – launching the case in January 2021 – claiming there had been “misconduct of various police officers in their dealings with him”.
The man claimed police failed to honour a promise to financially reward him, give him a new identity and help him to relocate overseas.
He also asked the court to award him financial compensation for an alleged breach of duty of care by the police, which was owed to him under the state’s witness protection laws.
The man told the court he needed to be relocated before the gang members he had helped police put in jail were released and came to find him.
“The plaintiff submits that he requires a new identity, compensation for past and future economic loss, and assistance to relocate before the gang members he betrayed are released from jail,” Justice Peter Hamill wrote in a 2022 judgment for a legal argument in the case.
On April 12, 2022, Justice Hamill ruled that the man was permitted to disclose details of his case and complaints to the state’s Attorney General and Police Minister.
He was also granted permission to submit it to the NSW Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, which investigates complaints of police misconduct.
Lawyers for the NSW Police had opposed the man’s request to pass official police documents and information about his case to the organisations.
“The plaintiff says that the order is primarily opposed because the NSWPF is concerned that senior police officers would be exposed for 15 years of alleged unlawful and incompetent conduct, rather than because of any concerns for the plaintiff’s safety,” Justice Hamill wrote in his judgment.
Lawyers for the police “attribute the ongoing risks to the plaintiff’s safety to his refusal to participate in a field interview with the NSWPF Witness Protection Unit between September 2020 and September 2021”, Justice Hamill wrote.
The lawyers submitted both the court that the man was free to contact those agencies “and request inquiries into his claim without disclosing the subpoenaed documents”, the court was told.
The matter continues.
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