The Snitch: Roger Rogerson heard he lost his appeal on 2GB radio inside jail

Disgraced former detective Roger Rogerson heard he lost his appeal over his murder conviction via news radio while inside jail, it can be revealed.

The thing about Roger Rogerson is that he’s not the quitting type.

A three-judge panel on Friday knocked back the one-time celebrated cop’s appeal against his life sentence for the murder of drug dealer Jamie Gao.

Rogerson was reportedly knocked for six when he heard the result.

But he wasn’t in court when it was handed down, he was in Long Bay Jail.

We’re told he heard about his fate via a radio news bulletin on 2GB from inside the prison.

Rogerson wasn’t required to be in court when the decision was handed down, and he also wasn’t beamed into the proceedings via an audiovisual link.

When Rogerson’s lawyer, Peter Katsoolis, was told earlier this week that the decision would be handed down on Friday, he attempted to book a legal conference.

Roger Rogerson’s appeal was dismissed. Picture: Craig Greenhill

But the earliest legal conference the jail would give Katsoolis was at 2.30pm – about four hours after the decision was handed down.

Rogerson was in a pretty bad emotional state by the time he got online with his legal team.

Ever resilient, he was in better spirits by the time his team explained how close one technical legal point had gone to falling his way, which could have seen him get a chance at a retrial.

“He came so close to having one of his most important grounds upheld,” Mr Katsoolis said.

It pointed to the possibility of a High Court appeal.

Stay tuned for Rogerson: Part 3.

FAREWELL, PARTIES

Covid-19 is raining on the parade.

A number of high-profile law enforcement figures were due to finish their careers with much fanfare this month but the current lockdown has led to sweeping cancellations.

Corrective Services Commissioner Peter Severin was due to round off his nine-year tenure with a marching out parade but that has been canned.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Jeff Loy’s farewell was also months in the making. His colleagues were pulling out all the bells and whistles for the veteran cop with a marching out parade that was due to stop traffic on Macquarie St.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Jeff Loy’s farewell has been disrupted due to Covid. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Jenny Evans

But that has been postponed, too.

We hear the hugely popular criminal investigators’ dinner, which is held every two years and draws detectives from around the state to Sydney, is also hanging in the balance.

And lastly, the Director of Public Prosecutions Lloyd Babb SC had scheduled an intimate
send-off in the city earlier this month.

You guessed it – cancelled.

COVID COURTS

The pandemic is also testing the patience of the state’s court system, as we witnessed in the Downing Centre this week.

Snitch correspondent Anton Rose was dutifully listening to the call-over list in court 3.1 when an unsurprising interruption to the audiovisual link inspired a defence barrister to get creative.

On Thursday, the unidentified barrister resorted to miming his submissions to the court when the audio connection dropped out.

Undeterred by the technical glitch, the determined barrister was also texting his answers to Judge Dina Yehia’s questions about pre-trial issues to the crown prosecutor.

After withstanding the awkward delays and comical scenes, eventually the barrister threw in the towel and dialled in again.

“At the end of all this someone should transcribe all the technical mishaps from barristers in virtual appearances and write a book,” Judge Yehia quipped.

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