The Snitch: $5000 awarded to man held in Chatswood police station too long

What is 16 minutes of your time worth as a prisoner in a police station? The week from hell for Gladys Berejiklian and Arthur Moses, and Crime Commission boss knocked off by a gangster on the Power 100 list. The Snitch is here.

The state’s unluckiest wrongly accused stalker has finally had a win.

Benjamin Reeves, who in the past two years has had charges withdrawn against him for allegedly stalking model Simone Holtznagel and also a 21-year-old retail worker – was awarded damages over one of his arrests.

Reeves, a 59-year-old former CEO of the Australian Association of Graduate Employers, was found not guilty of stalking a 21-year-old woman in McMahons Point in May 2021.

He sued police over the nature of his arrest, which occurred in North Sydney in October 2020. Last month, he had a partial win in the Sydney District Court in the case.

Judge Alister Abadee ruled Reeves was successful in suing for false imprisonment because the arresting police held him in Chatswood Police Station’s questioning room for 16 minutes too long.

Benjamin Reeves had charges withdrawn against him for allegedly stalking Simone Holtznagel.

The court heard that was the length of time the investigation officers continued questioning Reeves after he had exercised his right to remain silent.

So what’s 16 minutes of your time in a police interview room worth?

Five grand, according to Judge Abadee’s judgment in the case, which was published on Friday.

Reeves had sued for wrongful arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and battery but was only successful on one ground.

The ex-CEO had been pressing for a greater amount and his lawyer told the court about a similar case where the claimant received $7000 in general damages for a false imprisonment that lasted for 12 minutes.

Magistrate Michael Barko dismissed the charges in the Downing Centre Local Court on May 17, 2021 after it emerged in court that Reeves had been a McMahons Point resident for 19 years, giving him a justifiable reason for being at the cafe.

In a separate case, police last month withdrew charges against Reeves in the Downing Centre Local Court after he was accused of stalking model Simone Holtznagel.

Immediately after the charges were withdrawn, police rearrested Reeves on the courthouse steps and charged him with breaching a personal violence order taken out to protect Ms ­Holtznagel.

He is set to contest the charges and that case continues.

BLACK THURSDAY

Think you had a tough week?

Former premier Gladys Berejiklian and her close personal friend, barrister Arthur Moses SC, probably had a worse one.

Well, a worse Thursday to be precise.

That was the day the ICAC finally released its report that ruled that Ms Berejiklian engaged in “corrupt conduct” and “breached public trust” by helping to advance grants given to projects in the electorate of MP Daryl Maguire without disclosing their “close personal relationship”.

It was a tough week for Gladys Berejiklian and her partner Arthur Moses. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Monique Harmer

Across town, Mr Moses was appearing for Ben Roberts-Smith in the Federal Court to deliver the news that the ex-soldier agreed he would pay the astronomical level of legal costs for his failed defamation trial.

Snitch hopes they called in sick on Friday.

HAKAN: 1. BARNES: 0

Spare a thought for NSW Crime Commission boss Michael Barnes.

It was bad enough the head of the state’s feared law enforcement agency dropped one spot from last year to come in at number 61 on The Daily Telegraph‘s Power 100 list this week. But did anyone notice the identity who replaced Barnes in the 60th spot?

It was a major target of Australian law enforcement: international drug smuggler Hakan Ayik. Ayik, 43, was included as a new entrant for this year’s list and has been described as Australia’s most wanted man and allegedly one of the biggest drug importers into the country with a personal fortune estimated to stretch into the hundreds of millions.

Hakan Ayik came in at number 63 on The Daily Telegraph’s Power 100. Picture: Network News

We’re told Barnes noticed that he had been eclipsed on the list by Ayik.

The Snitch is not involved in putting the list together.

Snitch’s calls to Mr Barnes were not answered on Friday.

Ayik fled Australia in 2010 after getting a tip-off that he was going to be arrested over a 200kg heroin shipment seized at Port Botany. He has since gone on to set himself up as a major player on the international drug smuggling scene with a personal fortune estimated to be in the hundreds of millions.

Barnes, who would love to use the crime commission’s powers to seize Ayik’s wealth, was described as having cemented himself “as one of the most powerful people in law enforcement over the past 12 months”.

THREATS

We’re told a powerful gangster is starting to get nervous that one of their minions is going to squeal on them in an upcoming trial.

Snitch’s sensible lawyers have recommended not naming the people, given the trial is about to start.

But we’re told the minion is not liking the prospect of spending a lengthy stint behind bars.

So they’re considering pleading guilty and then making a tell-all confession to the authorities against the gangster and others in exchange for a discount on their sentence.

Word has filtered back to our gangster and they have made some not-so-subtle contact with the person in question in an attempt to sway them from rolling over.

Remind us to tell you who all these people are when the trial ends.

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