John Spiro Fiotakis trial: Private investigator gives evidence in $239k Lamborghini crash trial

A private investigator and former Victorian policeman — who once served time in prison for crimes including incitement to kidnap and assaulting suspects — has told a Tasmanian jury about an insurance probe he conducted into a Lamborghini crash at Seven Mile Beach in 2019.

John Spiro Fiotakis.

A private investigator and former Victorian policeman — who once served time in prison for crimes including incitement to kidnap, assaulting suspects, and attempting to pervert the course of justice — has told a Tasmanian jury about an insurance probe he conducted into a Lamborghini crash at Seven Mile Beach in 2019.

Licensed investigator, Barry Hahnel, was giving evidence in the trial of 64-year-old Hobart businessman John Spiro Fiotakis, who has pleaded not guilty to one count of attempting by deception to acquire a financial advantage from Allianz Australia Insurance, following allegations he falsely stated he was driving the $239,000 vehicle when it crashed into a tree on Pittwater Rd six years ago.

Appearing in the Hobart Supreme Court by video-link from Queensland, Crown witness Mr Hahnel said he visited Tasmania two weeks after the incident to launch an investigation of Mr Fiotakis’s claim on behalf of the insurance giant.

Before recounting details of the formal interview he conducted with Mr Fiotakis at his Sandy Bay patisserie on 13 June, 2019, Mr Hahnel told the court he had been convicted and jailed for corruption-related offences committed while a senior member of Victoria Police’s armed robbery squad in the early 1990s.

Mr Hahnel said that after visiting the Seven Mile Beach crash scene to take photographs, he then taped an in-person conversation with Mr Fiotakis as part of the insurance claim assessment process.

During an audio recording played in full to jurors on Tuesday, Mr Hahnel queried Mr Fiotakis’s signed statement claiming to be driving the Lamborghini at the time of the crash, and asked him directly if his son, Spiro Fiotakis, was actually behind the wheel.

“At the time of the incident, I was driving,” Mr Fiotakis told the insurance investigator.

“If you are assuming my son was driving, that’s wrong.”

Mr Fiotakis told the private investigator that Spiro had been operating the sports car for a period of time in the hours before the night-time crash, before arranging a handover of driving duties to his father near the Cambridge shopping centre.

Under cross-examination by defence lawyer, James Crotty, Mr Hahnel conceded he had conducted his investigation into the Lamborghini crash under a number of alleged assumptions, contained in written “instructions” attached to the job file, including that Tasmania Police had advised the crash was suspicious, that there had been possible delays in reporting the accident to authorities, that Mr Fiotakis’s son was believed to have had a poor driving record.

Mr Hahnel told the court that at no stage did he seek, or receive, any corroborating evidence regarding the instructions.

The trial, before Chief Justice Chris Shanahan, continues.

Lamborghini crash trial hears conflicting accounts of man’s age

MONDAY: A Seven Mile Beach resident who rendered assistance to a man at the scene of a 2019 Lamborghini crash on Pittwater Rd has told the Supreme Court about conflicting statements he gave to police regarding the man’s age.

Luke Butcher was giving evidence in the trial of John Spiro Fiotakis, 64, who has pleaded not guilty to one count of attempting by deception to acquire a financial advantage from Allianz Australia Insurance, after allegedly falsely stating he was driving the $239,000 sports car when it was written off in a fiery collision six years ago.

Prosecutors allege the 2009 Lamborghini Gallardo was actually being driven by the defendant’s then 24-year-old son, Spiro, who was not covered by the vehicle’s insurance policy which stipulated drivers must be aged 25 and over.

On Monday, Mr Butcher told the jury he was driving back to his Pittwater Rd farmhouse on the evening of 29 May, 2019, when he saw a vehicle on fire on the road opposite his driveway entrance.

After parking his own car at a safe distance from flames, Mr Butcher said he approached a man standing near the wreckage to enquire about his welfare.

Mr Butcher said the man – who he described as the sole person located in the vicinity of the crashed Lamborghini – had asked to borrow a phone, which Mr Butcher provided.

Asked by prosecutors if he could remember what the man near the car looked like, Mr Butcher replied: “He looked like a younger gentleman. He wasn’t old.”

Mr Butcher told the court he did not witness the crash itself, or see anyone behind the wheel of the car, but said he eventually felt “weird” about what transpired at the roadside.

“I was asked to say that the person I saw at the scene was not driving the car,” he told the court.

Under cross-examination by defence lawyer, James Crotty, Mr Butcher was asked about a statutory declaration he provided to police in 2019 soon after the incident, and a second formal document he signed in February of this year.

Mr Butcher agreed that his first statement had made reference to “an older gentleman” being at the crash site, while the subsequent document described the same person as “a younger Greek gentleman”.

Asked to explain the discrepancy in his descriptions of the man’s appearance, Mr Butcher told the court he had experienced ongoing pressure “from both sides” about what to include in his witness statement.

When asked to elaborate on where the pressure was coming from, Mr Butcher said: “From the young driver, and from the police sending me messages over five years.

“I was asked to say that the younger gentleman wasn’t driving and over time it didn’t sit well with me.

“So I made a second statement telling the truth”.

Mr Butcher was also asked about a visit he made to Spiro Fiotakis’s Hobart workplace in September 2019, during which he allegedly discussed aspects of his police statement with a man behind the counter.

Mr Butcher said he remembered making the visit, and that he assumed the man he spoke to was Spiro Fiotakis.

But the witness told the court he could not recall saying “I’m the bloke who witnessed your father’s accident”, or “I’m here because they’re trying to stitch you up, mate”.

Mr Butcher said that the purpose of his visit was to inform Spiro Fiotakis that he had made an official police statement, which contained details of “an older gentleman” being near the Lamborghini.

The trial, before Chief Justice Chris Shanahan, continues.

Originally published as John Spiro Fiotakis trial: Private investigator gives evidence in $239k Lamborghini crash trial