Silk-Miller police murders: Jason Roberts ‘was not there’, Ron Iddles concludes
A BID for freedom by convicted police double murderer Jason Roberts has found an extraordinary backer in one of the state’s most decorated homicide cops. LISTEN TO PODCAST
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- How Jason Roberts became the protege of killer Bandali Debs
- Roberts’ ex-girlfriend: I’ll testify in court to clear Jason
- Jason Roberts’ prison letter to Bandali Debs: ‘Tell the truth’ on police shooting
A BID for freedom by convicted police double murderer Jason Roberts has been backed in an extraordinary affidavit by decorated homicide detective Ron Iddles.
Mr Iddles says in the affidavit that he believes Roberts’ claim of innocence over the 1998 murders of Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller is truthful, and that fellow convicted murderer Bandali Debs was the lone gunman.
The former detective was appointed in 2012 as a special investigator to review Roberts’ conviction for the shooting murders, which rocked Victoria.
“I reviewed it (the case). Yes, I did a report. There are some disturbing facts,’’ Mr Iddles has told the Herald Sun.
“On the basis of probability, he (Roberts) was not there.”
The families of Gary Silk and Rod Miller said in a statement the legal process had concluded that there was no further case to answer.
“Over the past 19 years, the tragic events of August 16, 1998 have been constantly reignited at great distress to our families,” the statement said.
“The police force has rejected the Iddles Report. After a five-month trial, two appeals and the most recent decision by the Attorney General the legal process has concluded that there is no further case to answer.
“There must come a time when we as a family can feel confident that the process is now over. There must come a time, when we say ‘Enough is enough’.”
It can also be revealed that legal heavyweight David Grace, QC, has recommended that the case be returned to court for review.
Attorney-General Martin Pakula sought Mr Grace’s independent advice late last year, as he considered Roberts’ petition for mercy.
And Bandali Debs’ daughter Nicole, Roberts’ former girlfriend, has given Mr Iddles a statement in which she provides Roberts with an alibi for the night of the murders in Cochranes Rd, Moorabbin.
She says Roberts was with her.
The Herald Sun has further been told that Mr Pakula had planned to announce the case would be referred to the Court of Appeal, but then backflipped, denying Roberts’ petition on March 24.
On Monday night, Mr Pakula did not answer specific questions about his decision, saying only: “Ultimately, the question was one within my sole discretion.
“Having considered all of the submissions and all of the advice it was — and remains — my view that the matter ought not be referred to the Court of Appeal.”
But this morning Mr Pakula spoke at length about it on radio, saying neither Mr Roberts nor his legal team chose to provide the evidence at his trial.
He aid it was worth noting that Mr Roberts did not submit to cross examination.
“It’s an interesting description to describe it as a fresh evidence. Fresh evidence … is evidence that’s not available, could not have been adduced at trial,” Mr Pakula told ABC Radio Melbourne.
“It’s not like finding the matinee jacket, or fresh DNA evidence. It is effectively alibi evidence that could have been adduced at trial but was not.
“This trial ran for 87 days. There was something like 157 prosecution witnesses called, Mr Roberts was represented by senior counsel. They had an opportunity to put any of this evidence at trial, they chose not to do so.”
Mr Pakula said he considered Mr Iddles’ affidavit but also a range of other submissions.
“To ask the Attorney General to refer a matter to the Court of Appeal for a fourth go, having already had three goes at the system, in my view, would require something to be exceptionally compelling,” Mr Pakula said.
“The fact of the matter is I made a contentious decision based on all of the information that was before me, not just the views of those people who were supportive of Jason Roberts’ submission but all of the information before me, including all of the evidence that was presented at the trial.
“Mr Roberts has exhausted his avenues of appeal and I have declined to send it back to the Court of Appeal for another bite of the cherry.”
Premier Daniel Andrews this morning denied there were political motivations behind the decision not to refer the case for review.
“I don’t accept that,” he said.
“The Attorney General advised me of the decision once he had made his decision and I fully support the decision that the Attorney General has made.”
Mr Andrews also refused to discuss the guilt of Roberts, telling media: “I don’t want to have a debate about that issue.”
But some close to the case have questioned whether the backflip was politically motivated, amid claims it followed a series of phone calls in which it is understood Mr Pakula was made aware of a significant backlash.
Rodney Miller’s widow, Carmel Arthur, said on Monday night: “After 19 years, enough is enough.”
We revealed last year that Mr Iddles’ one-year review of the case — dubbed Operation Rainmaker — had concluded Roberts’ conviction was unsafe.
The Rainmaker report, which the Herald Sun has published online below, found no independent evidence to support prosecutor Jeremy Rapke’s closing address to the jury that Roberts was hiding in a car before shooting Sgt Silk.
The Herald Sun can now reveal Mr Iddles also penned an affidavit in 2016 in support of Roberts, saying: “On the balance of probabilities I believe him to be telling the truth.”
Mr Pakula had initially told colleagues he “had no choice” and was “comfortable with the decision’’ to allow Roberts’ appeal, sources say.
The Police Association, of which Mr Iddles was then secretary, was among those made aware of the impending decision to refer the case to court.
The union even engaged strategic communications firm EMC to formulate a message to members.
But one government observer said Mr Pakula had “gone weak at the knees’’ over the potential fallout.
The Herald Sun can also reveal detective Superintendent Paul Sheridan, who headed the Lorimer taskforce investigating the Silk-Miller murders, was among those who were asked to submit a report to the government this year.
The Rainmaker report quotes the highly credentialed Supt Sheridan, who was interviewed by Mr Iddles in 2013, as saying: “It (the murders) could be possible to have happened in the manner in which Roberts has described, but (it’s) highly unlikely.’’
Mr Iddles, who in April was appointed as a community safety trustee to oversee the government’s police reforms, does not shy away from his findings about Roberts. Asked about Mr Pakula’s decision, Mr Iddles said: “The Attorney-General has made a decision and I can’t influence that.’’
The Attorney-General has since refused to meet Roberts’ lawyers.
The findings of the Department of Justice and of Mr Grace, who spent months scrutinising the merits of Roberts’ petition for mercy, cannot be publicly scrutinised.
Mr Pakula said on Monday night: “Petitions of mercy are matters worthy of deep and conscientious consideration by Attorneys-General, and that is how I treated Mr Roberts’ petition ...
“As is normal practice, the petition was provided to me along with advice and submissions from a range of sources.
“Where I believed advice was incomplete, I sought additional advice. Where I believed further submissions should be obtained, I requested the Department of Justice obtain them. As Attorney-General, I’m not in a position to detail the legal advice I received. However, it is appropriate for me to obtain information and advice from a variety of sources, including Victoria Police. It was not until I had received all of the information that I required, that I made a decision,” he said.
Last December, the government introduced retrospective laws denying parole to killers of police officers.
Ian Silk, Sgt Silk’s brother, was approached for comment on Monday night but was unavailable.
THE SILK-MILLER SHOOTINGS: THE TWO VERSIONS OF EVENTS
Prosecutor Jeremy Rapke, in his closing address to the jury in the Silk-Miller murder trial, said Jason Roberts was hiding in the footwell of the passenger-side front seat of a Hyundai, before being taken from the car by Sgt Gary Silk. He shot him at close range, then ran, the jury heard. It was the first time it had been asserted Roberts was secreted in the car.
WHAT CROWN PROSECUTOR JEREMY RAPKE QC TOLD THE JURY
1. Hyundai drives in and out of Silky Emperor restaurant car park, along Warrigal Rd and west on Cochranes Rd. Only Debs, the driver, is seen.
2. Car is stopped, Sgt Gary Silk approaches driver’s side, Debs gets out and speaks to him. Sgt Silk then notices a second man, Jason Roberts, secreted in passenger side foot-well.
3. Sgt Silk walks around front of car with pen and police diary in hand and beckons Roberts out of car.
4. Roberts shoots Sgt Silk with .38 revolver as he stands there with his pen and police diary in hand and then runs into vacant allotment as Sen Constable Miller fires at him.
5. Debs dives into Hyundai and shoots at Sen Constable Miller through rear windscreen and he is showered with glass.
6. Sen Constable Miller returns fire from rear of Hyundai hitting the framework during gunfire exchange,
7. Sen Constable Miller then retreats to behind the police car at the rear tail-light and is wounded after taking cover.
8. Sen Constable Miller runs towards Warrigal Rd with Debs firing a shot at the Hyundai.
9. Once Sen Constable Miller is out of sight, Debs fires two shots from his Magnum .357 into Sgt Silk.
10. Roberts returns to the Hyundai and he and Debs drive away.
WHAT JASON ROBERTS CLAIMS BANDALI DEBS TOLD HIM HAPPENED
1. Sgt Gary Silk talks to Bandali Debs at driver’s side. Debs is outside Hyundai.
2. Sen Constable Rodney Miller is positioned at back of car, and tells Debs to come back and open boot as Sgt Silk walks around bonnet to check registration, with pen and diary in hand.
3. Sen Constable Miller looks inside boot, taking his eyes off Debs. Debs shoots him in side of torso.
4. Debs steps quickly towards nature strip and shoots Sgt Silk twice.
5. Sgt Silk does not get time to unclip his holster to get revolver. Still has pen in hand when shot.
6. Sen Constable Miller shoots from ground up through Hyundai’s back shelf at where he thinks Debs is positioned and hits the Hyundai frame.
7. Debs and Sen Constable Miller become involved in a gunfight as police officer retreats.
8. Debs chases Sen Constable Miller but then aborts to return to Hyundai.
9. Debs takes out a second gun, a .38 revolver, and shoots Sgt Silk again before a second shot jams, leaving a shell.
10. Debs takes Sgt Silk’s diary with his name and registration in it, gets in Hyundai and drives away.
POLICE KILLER BOMBSHELL: SPECIAL INVESTIGATION
ROBERTS’ EX-GIRLFRIEND: I’LL TESTIFY IN COURT TO CLEAR JASON
HOW A TEEN BECAME A KILLER’S PROTEGE
ROBERTS’ JAIL PLEA TO DEBS: ‘TELL THE TRUTH’ ON SHOOTING
WEDNESDAY: READ PART TWO