Victoria Police officer who stalked female target walks free
A Victoria Police senior sergeant has avoided a jail term after being charged with stalking and harassing a young female police officer with whom he had previously had an affair.
Law & Order
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A Victoria Police senior sergeant has escaped conviction after being charged with stalking and harassing a young female police officer.
The “distinguished” officer avoided a jail term after 12 charges were withdrawn by the prosecution and he instead pleaded guilty to one count of breaching a court order.
The senior sergeant, 51, who cannot be named for legal reasons, walked free from court this week after admitting to driving past the victim’s house twice in two days, despite a court order banning him from coming within 200m of her home.
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The court heard the married father of three worked with the young officer when the pair began a four-year affair — which she had ended in the lead-up to the offending.
In a victim impact statement, the woman said she had witnessed “terrible things” in her career as a police officer, but his offending against her had been “the worst”.
“I did everything I could to let him know we were over … that I did not love him,” she said through tears. “I’ve been humiliated … stripped of my dignity. This has changed me … for the worse.”
She had lived in “constant fear” after seeing the man driving past her house, and felt like a prisoner in her own home.
“I would jump in fear at any noise, scared it would be him coming back,” she said.
The policewoman slammed Victoria Police for its handling of her complaints against her senior officer, and said she had been through two years of “hell” in the justice system.
“He was never arrested or interviewed,” she said.
“I have not been given the same level of protection as members of the public.”
The senior sergeant, who has served 26 years on the force, was suspended from duty in March last year.
His lawyer said the officer had been an upstanding member of the community, and his career had stagnated since the charges were laid. “His identity was being a police officer … with a conviction, there is no doubt he will lose his job.”
Magistrate Kieran Gilligan agreed he had led “a faultless life until now”, and the offence was at the lower end of the scale. Mr Gilligan did not impose a conviction and placed the officer on a 12-month good-behaviour bond.