Sacked detective Murray Gentner to take his reinstatement push to the Supreme Court
The former detective sacked for having pictures of a corpse on his phone will try his luck for reinstatement at the Supreme Court
Police & Courts
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Former Victoria Police detective Murray Gentner will take his fight for reinstatement to the Supreme Court.
Mr Gentner, who was sacked for pictures of a corpse which internal investigators found on his phone and was also embroiled in the Dani Laidley photo scandal, this week launched legal action over his dismissal.
The ex-cop was cleared over the Laidley saga but terminated last year over other pictures had been uncovered, including what was described as a “shocking and dehumanising” image of a dead man at a crime scene.
Mr Gentner failed to have his termination overturned in November when he asked for a review from the Police Registration and Services Board.
Now he’s taking his fight to a higher authority, this week lodging an application for judicial review against the board and Chief Commissioner of Police Shane Patton in the Supreme Court.
An originating motion lodged by Tony Hargreaves and Partners Lawyers lists three grounds on which the legal action is based.
The first listed is that the PRSB had no power to affirm the decision to dismiss Mr Gentner “and or made an error of law on the face of the record in purporting to affirm the dismissal decision.”
The second is that the PRSB had erred or made a jurisdictional error in failing to apply the correct test to the determination of the plaintiff’s application for review under section 152 of the Victoria Police Act.
The final ground is that the PRSB had erred in not taking into account the relevant consideration of other police members’ role in Mr Gentner’s misconduct.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said she could not comment as the matter was before the court.
Mr Gentner went to the PRSB for a review of Victoria Police’s decision to terminate him over material found in his phone, among it images of a dead man at a crime scene.
At issue were text messages found by internal investigators after Mr Gentner’s phone activity between 2015 and 2021 was examined as part of the Laidley inquiry.
Many came from a WhatsApp group involving Mr Gentner and a number of colleagues from the St Kilda station.
The former senior-constable was investigated and cleared by a court over the Dani Laidley photo scandal but the PRSB upheld the decision to dismiss him over other matters.
Mr Gentner argued at the PSRB that the force’s decision to sack him was “harsh, unjust or unreasonable” and that his right to privacy, reputation and freedom of thought and conscience were unlawfully and arbitrarily interfered with through Victoria Police overreach into historical and private conversations.
He stated the SMS messages were “written with adrenalin under extreme anxiety and duress” and that he looked back on them with regret.
“They make me sick, I certainly don’t believe that is me,” Mr Gentner told the inquiry officer.
The 2012 Victoria Police detective of the year’s role in the 2017 Bourke St massacre and the toll it took on him was also taken into account.
“For 20 years, I bled for the organisation. I’ve made mistakes which I’ve tried to rectify, own up, put my hand up straight away to own and deal with,”
Mr Gentner said in arguing he should keep his job.
“To say I’ve learnt a lesson from this whole thing is an understatement. The last three and a half years have been living hell.”
Mr Gentner was criminally charged and cleared after an investigation into photos of Laidley, the former North Melbourne AFL coach, after she was arrested and taken into custody at St Kilda police station in May, 2020.
He had earlier admitted to three disciplinary breaches over the Laidley matter and was ordered to pay her $1500 in compensation and undergo training.
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