The Snitch: Decision time for undercover police operative rape case
Was an accused drug seller raped by an undercover operative? Which NRLW star had good news in court? And which lawyer sent a dirt file on their boss to 100 people? The Snitch is here.
Police & Courts
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A decision is imminent on whether an undercover civilian operative working for the police will be called to the witness box to answer accusations that he raped the target of a drug sting.
November 26 is the date Magistrate Megan Greenwood will deliver the decision on the case that has huge implications for how police undercover operations are run.
As a short catch up, a Sydney man was charged with supplying a large commercial quantity of the party drug GHB following a six-month undercover sting.
The police probe involved a strategy where a civilian operative working for the cops matched with the target on a gay dating app, earned his trust, and then introduced him to an undercover cop posing as a drug buyer.
But the case took a major turn when the accused man claimed he was raped by the civilian operative.
The man’s lawyers Abdul Tlais and Rick Korn are now pushing for the civilian operative to be cross-examined, and have argued for the case to be dropped because a serious crime was allegedly committed during the drug sting.
In court on Tuesday, the man’s barrister, Murugan Thangaraj SC, told the magistrate: “We are getting closer to exposing the use of disgraceful behaviour to obtain evidence.”
Mr Thangaraj also told the court that police had failed to provide evidence.
This included no text messages or communications between the civilian operative and their police handlers — a standard practice in an undercover operation.
The officer in charge of the investigation’s phone was also “in archives” and couldn’t be accessed.
And the operative had also given a witness statement that failed to answer “critical” questions, Mr Thanjuraj said.
In it, the operative denied having sex with the target, and described him as a “putrid-looking drug dealer” with “scabs all over his body” — but still stayed the night and slept in the target’s bed.
Prosecuting lawyer Chris Taylor told the court there was “simply no foundation” to the rape allegation and that the case “doesn’t involve a police cover-up”.
He told the court his written submissions on the issue “takes the wind out of the sails of the (defence) application”.
Over to you Magistrate Greenwood.
HOPOATE COURT WIN
The NRLW-playing daughter of occasionally controversial rugby league identity John Hopoate has escaped a driving-while-suspended offence without receiving a conviction.
Pani Hopoate, who plays for the Sydney Roosters, was placed on a 12-month conditional release order without conviction in Manly Local Court on Thursday.
This came after her lawyer Feddy Kak submitted several references that convinced Magistrate Lisa Stapleton the NRLW star would not be a repeat offender.
Her father, a 50-year-old former Manly Sea Eagles star, has a troubled driving record.
Last month, Hopoate failed to overturn his latest licence suspension, with the Downing Centre Local Court being told he had been suspended 13 times.
He’s also pretty adept at sending abusive emails, as Snitch discovered recently.
“No 1 gives a F..K about your shit article this morning C..T. Stop using my name to get your F..KEN shit name out their MUT,” he wrote to us last month.
“No 1 knows who you are or gives a f..k, F..KEN GERM. Hope I run into you 1 day C..T FACE.”
SCORCHED EARTH
Guess which Sydney lawyer compiled a dirt file on their boss and sent it to more than 100 people?
The dirt file included what the sender described as highly emotive emails allegedly sent by the boss to all staff at the firm after 4am and other times well outside of work hours.
Others included emails where the boss allegedly admits their firm has been trading while insolvent, and messages where he bags out colleagues or tells them not to ask for a pay rise because he had lost more than $1 million of his own money in the firm.
Included on the sent list were legal complaints bodies, journalists, barristers they brief and a long list of others.
Several emails said the staff were asking for too much money and should resign.
One email sent at 4.30am asked the staff “Anyone want this business?”
Got a Snitch? Email brenden.hills@news.com.au
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