Jason Roberts walks free after being found not guilty of Silk-Miller killings
After enjoying his first night of freedom in decades, Jason Roberts was escorted to Melbourne Assessment Prison as he weighs up a compo claim.
Police & Courts
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Jason Roberts has left the suburban home where he stayed Monday night to visit Melbourne Assessment Prison.
Two groups of visitors arrived at the home around 10am Tuesday, all wearing face masks and hooded jumpers to shield themselves from the media.
Just over an hour later, Roberts was driven from the home in the same red Isuzu vehicle he arrived in yesterday, sitting in the front passenger seat.
He arrived at the building, formerly known as the Melbourne Remand Centre, just after midday.
Wearing a mask, Roberts did not speak as he entered the building, as the male driver escorting him said the media pack should “leave him alone”.
Roberts and the driver left the building at 12.30 before getting back into the ute and reversing it through the rear gate of the Melbourne Assessment Prison.
Allan deflects questions on Roberts case
Acting Premier Jacinta Allan refused to say if she expected the state to be sued over the Jason Roberts case.
“Given the decision yesterday by the courts as one that’s been made by the court and clearly independent of the operation of government, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on that decision or indeed speculate on other further action that may be taken,” she said.
“Our thoughts are very much with the Silk and Miller families.
“This is no doubt a difficult time for them and the broader Victoria Police family and our thoughts are with them at this very difficult time.”
Asked whether she offered her thoughts to Mr Roberts, Ms Allan said: “You’re inviting me to make a comment in an area that would be deeply inappropriate to cross into.
“I’m not going to do that today or indeed at any stage as a result of yesterday’s decision.”
Roberts, who was jailed for more than two decades for the 1998 murders of police officers Gary Silk and Rodney Miller, has walked free from the Supreme Court on Monday after a jury sensationally acquitted him.
The not guilty verdicts on the murders of Sergeant Silk, 34, and Senior Constable Miller, 35, were a devastating blow to the officers’ families and the Victoria Police.
Roberts, now 41, on Monday night spent his first night as a free man after almost 22 years as a maximum security prisoner since being arrested as a 19-year-old.
The decades he spent in jail represent the longest stretch behind bars any Australian has served in a case where a verdict has been overturned on appeal or at retrial.
His retrial came after the Herald Sun in 2017 uncovered a fabricated police statement, buried for 19 years, casting doubt on whether he was present in Cochranes Rd, Moorabbin, with Bandali Debs just after midnight on August 16, 1998.
Roberts, 17 at the time of the murders, has always maintained his innocence.
In a joint statement, the families of the fallen officers said “both deserved a more just outcome” than the acquittal of Roberts.
“A number of lives changed when Gary and Rod were murdered and many lives will never be the same, including the first responders and the detectives involved in the case – all of whom have shown great courage, determination and grace as they pursued justice,” the statement said.
“What cannot be changed is that two young Victoria Police officers – Gary Silk and Rod Miller – who were loved by their families and friends, were callously murdered.
“Their loss continues to leave a huge hole in our lives.”
Meanwhile, Roberts’ friends said they were “glad he is out” of prison.
Roberts returned to a suburban home in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs on Monday afternoon.
He arrived at the home in a red Isuzu at 2.40pm.
The vehicle was driven inside a garage, with Roberts seen sitting in the back seat.
“We’re just glad he’s out,” a woman entering the home said.
The same woman was seen carrying a slab of VB into the house.
Another man said: “It has been a long time coming.”
In the gallery above the court, the mood was tense as the jury filed in to deliver their verdict at 10am.
When the madam foreperson was asked their finding on charge 11, the murder of Gary Silk, she said: “Not guilty.”
The only response in the gallery was a stunned silence, followed by murmurs.
It was almost a formality the jury would find Roberts not guilty on Rodney Miller’s murder, which they did.
There was shock for the Lorimer detectives who investigated the case more than two decades ago.
The task force head, Paul Sheridan, was visibly disappointed.
Few words were spoken as Carmel Arthur, Sen Constable Miller’s widow, was supported by her husband, Peter Silk.
She remained silent as she walked from the Supreme Court.
Justice Stephen Kaye told the jury he had not witnessed such an outstanding jury in all his legal career.
The jury’s rejection of the prosecution case puts the miscarriage of justice Roberts suffered on a scale comparable to those of Lindy Chamberlain, Andrew Mallard and David Eastman.
It is believed Roberts will consider pursuing a compensation claim against the state.
Police stunned by verdict
Chief Commissioner Shane Patton, a former colleague of both officers, said the verdict was a “disappointing” end to the 24-year saga.
“I would just like to say at the outset that Victoria Police acknowledges the outcome of the trial,” he said.
“Personally, though, as the Chief Commissioner, as a police officer, as a colleague who worked and played with Sergeant Gary Silk, and who also did a couple of jobs with Rod Miller, Senior Constable Rod Miller, this decision is very disappointing.”
“We didn’t expect this verdict to come back this quickly, and as I’ve said, I’m disappointed with that verdict.”
“Nonetheless, out of adversity, we will continue to move forward.”
Chief Commissioner Patton said the families of Sgt Silk and Sen Con Patton were “devastated”.
“We’ll do what we do as a blue family, as a Victoria Police family, we’ll continue to wrap our arms around Carmel, Ian, and all of those families, we will continue to wrap our arms around all of our own colleagues … we’ll come together and continue to do what we do and be strong.”
He heaped praise on the “tireless” investigators who, as part of Taskforce Lorimer, investigated the murders of their two colleagues.
“I take my hat off to the Lorimer task force,” he said.
“These are two police officers … they were murdered, they didn’t come home, we mourn them everyday,” he said.
“We put forward what I thought was a very substantial body of evidence and a very strong case, and I don’t think I can take the matter any further.”
Asked about the work of former homicide detective Ron Iddles, who in 2013 reviewed Roberts’ case in a secret police operation dubbed “Rainmaker”, Chief Commissioner Patton said, “No, I won’t say anything in regards to that”.
Mr Iddles told the Herald Sun on Monday night: “(Roberts) has now had a retrial and the jury has unanimously come to a verdict that he is not guilty.
“That has to be accepted.
“He was granted a retrial on the basis he did not get a fair trial due to the nondisclosure of evidence.”
Asked whether he had anything to say to Mr Roberts, Chief Commissioner Patton offered a blunt, “no”.
Outside court, Police Association boss Wayne Gatt said he was shocked by the verdict, adding it would bring “enormous” grief and sadness to the families of the fallen officers and the broader policing community.
“It’s certainly one we didn’t expect today,” he said.
“Whilst we are deeply impacted by this decision … we can’t imagine for a second what (the families are) going through.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with them.”
He said the deaths of Sgt Silk and Sen Constable Miller on duty 24 years ago were the “worst thing you could ever imagine”.
“To have a day like today some 24 years later is probably just only second to that,” Mr Gatt said.
He thanked the investigators for their tireless efforts to prosecute the case and said despite the outcome they “should stand with their heads held high”.
“They have done their absolute best and done the policing community more broadly proud,” he said.
How retrial unfolded
Roberts, 41, has always maintained his innocence, despite being convicted at the original trial in 2002.
He has spent almost all his time in custody as a maximum security prisoner.
Roberts chose to give evidence at his trial and took the stand last month.
The jury accepted his testimony that he had not been present at the Silk-Miller shooting scene in Cochranes Rd, Moorabbin, with his father figure and armed robbery partner, Bandali Debs, shortly after midnight on August 16.
Roberts was 17 years old at the time of the murders.
When he was asked by defence barrister David Hallowes, SC, if he went out that night with Debs, Roberts simply answered: “No, I did not.”
Asked if he shot Sgt Silk, 34, Roberts said: “I certainly did not.”
Asked if he shot Sen Constable Miller, 35, Roberts said: “I certainly did not.”
Roberts would testify Debs, the serial killer father of his girlfriend, Nicole, went to the Silky Emperor Chinese Restaurant alone and was intercepted by the officers who were staking out the venue.
Prosecutor Ben Ilhe, QC, had argued a body of circumstantial evidence, which he likened to the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, showed Roberts’ guilt.
But it was not enough to convince the jury.
The prosecution case had been that Roberts started the shootout with the police officers by firing his .38 calibre handgun from point blank range at Sgt Silk, hitting him in the chest.
And that by shooting Sgt Silk, he was part of a joint criminal enterprise with Debs to “shoot their way out of trouble”.
A part of the puzzle, which was not circumstantial, was the evidence of Debs, a four-time convicted killer and self-confessed liar, who admitted during the trial he had shot officer Miller.
The 68-year-old countered Roberts’ claims of innocence, testifying that he was with him on the morning of the police shootings.
He told the Supreme Court he had wanted give evidence to “sort the matter out”.
But the court also heard Debs had tried to strike a deal with Victoria Police in return for his co-operation.
Debs made demands to be moved to a Victorian jail, immunity from further prosecution and a parole date.
Under cross-examination about his evidence, Debs said he was not making it up.
“No, I’m not creating anything,” Debs told the court.
“My recollection of what happened on the night I have told you as honest as I can what me and Jason Roberts done.”
Debs, who gave his evidence via video link from Goulburn prison in NSW, said he drove with Roberts in a Hyundai coupe owned by his daughter, Nicole, to the Silky Emperor Chinese Restaurant on Warrigal Rd, Moorabbin, to “suss it out”.
He told the court that after briefly parking outside the venue, he and Roberts drove into the restaurant’s underground car park because he was “busting for a piss”.
Officers Silk and Miller, who were staking out the venue, were in an unmarked police car inside the car park as part of major “static surveillance” operation.
They had been assigned to watch the Silky Emperor, which the armed robbery squad running the operation, codenamed Hamada, had earmarked as a potential target of two unidentified bandits who had committed 10 armed robberies over the preceding five months.
After spotting the Hyundai drive into the car park, officers Silk and Miller followed it out onto Warrigal Rd, intercepting the blue coupe in nearby semi-industrial Cochranes Rd.
Moments later, both policemen were ambushed.
Two other police members, Francis Bendeich and Darren Sherren, who were also staking out the Silky Emperor, observed the scene before the shooting erupted.
Both former officers testified that they saw the driver of the “strange” Hyundai talking to Sgt Silk while Sen Constable Miller was positioned at the rear of the car.
“I only saw one person,” Mr Sherren said.
Mr Sherren said “everything was calm” as he and officer Bendeich drove by the intercept scene at “walking pace” before taking up a position in Capella Crescent, a nearby side street.
“Everything seemed to be fine at that point of time and then all hell broke loose,” Mr Sherren said.
From their vantage point, they could only see silhouettes before gunfire burst out.
Three handguns were fired during the shootout.
The two policemen watched the Hyundai drive west along Cochranes Rd, initially in the belief they had been spotted.
When they arrived at the crime scene, they found Sgt Silk dead on the nature strip.
Sgt Silk’s firearm was still in its “pancake” holster.
A post-mortem would find he had been shot with two different handguns – twice with a .357 Magnum and once with a .38 calibre Webley & Scott.
Sen Constable Miller, who would be found by arriving police at the scene lying wounded outside the Silky Emperor where he had staggered after being shot, had fired four shots at their attackers.
He would die later in hospital.
His last words to colleagues, known as his “dying declaration” to colleagues surrounding him after the ambush would be highly contested during the trial, including a staccato: “Two … one … on foot.”
The Lorimer task force, which investigated the Silk-Miller killings, charged Roberts a day shy of the two-year anniversary of their colleagues’ murders.
Roberts had been arrested weeks earlier with Debs, who was charged on July 25, 2000 and remanded, but he was initially released.
The pair was convicted of the Silk-Miller murders in 2002, but Roberts had his convictions quashed by the Court of Appeal on November 10, 2020, which ordered a retrial.
Roberts’ convictions were overturned after a Herald Sun investigation unearthed a fabricated police statement which had formed part of the evidence in the original trial.
At the start of the trial, Roberts pleaded guilty to committing 10 armed robberies in the five months prior to the Silk-Miller murders.
He also admitted his role in being an accessory after the shootings in helping Debs cover at the crime.
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