Inspector David Manly pleaded guilty to perjuring himself during IBAC investigation
A decorated policeman claims he deliberately perjured himself because he was worried his wife would find out he had been texting another woman.
Law & Order
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A senior policeman with almost 50 years of service has admitted to lying to anti-corruption investigators about a “crappy old mobile phone” he falsely claimed to have destroyed.
Inspector David Manly, 74, claimed he deliberately perjured himself because he was worried his wife would find out he had been texting another woman.
That woman was close friend and colleague Sergeant Rosa Rossi, who was at the centre of an investigation by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission over allegations she fraudulently took possession of six vacant properties across the state.
In March last year at his home in Lara, IBAC investigators ordered Insp Manly to hand over all his mobile phones, after discovering his close relationship with Sgt Rossi.
The decorated policeman handed over two phones to investigators, but has admitted to failing to pass on a third mobile — used exclusively to contact his female colleague.
The following day Insp Manly contacted IBAC to say he had found a third SIM card, but maintained that he did not have the mobile handset itself.
He claimed he had “smashed it and threw it away” because it was “crappy” and no longer worked.
But investigations revealed the phone was reactivated and used six days after he had claimed to have destroyed it.
Insp Manly has pleaded guilty to perjury after he gave evidence under oath that he had destroyed the phone the day after he was visited by IBAC.
He said he did so because “he knew it was going to blow up (with) his wife finding out about his contact with (Sgt) Rossi”.
Digital forensic analysis of the SIM card later found Insp Manly and Sgt Rossi had contacted each other 389 times between 2012 and 2016.
One such text message read: “Thank you my darling … love, David”.
Insp Manly told investigators it “looks messy” and in hindsight he just panicked as he was worried his wife would find out how many times he had spoken to his colleague.
“It was not going to look good,” he said in his interview, adding he viewed Sgt Rossi “like a daughter”.
Sgt Rossi is accused of using fake identities, lying to bank staff, signing false statutory declarations, lying to council workers and using the Victoria Police database to access restricted information to steal people’s homes.
She has pleaded not guilty and will fight 20 charges at a committal later this month.
Insp Manly is not alleged to have had any involvement in Sgt Rossi’s alleged offending.
He will return to court for a plea hearing in December, with prosecutors indicating they will not be pushing for a jail term.