‘Vile, evil killer‘ Debs acted alone in cop murders: court

Jason Roberts’ lawyers insist he wasn’t there on the night two police were killed and that “vile, evil” Bandali Debs acted alone.

Jason Roberts is facing a retrial over Silk-Miller killings. Picture: Jason Edwards

Serial killer Bandali Debs was a “vile, evil psychopath’’ who was alone when he killed police officers Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Constable Rodney Miller, a jury has heard.

In his closing address to a retrial jury, Jason Roberts’ barrister David Hallowes SC said what happened was a tragedy, but his client was innocent of the murders.

Mr Hallowes told the ­Supreme Court that Debs, the father of Roberts’ girlfriend ­Nicole, was alone when Sgt Silk and Constable Miller ­intercepted him on Cochranes Rd, Moorabbin, on August 16 1998, and he shot them.

The two officers were ­taking part in a large stake-out operation after a series of armed raids on restaurants and other retail outlets in Melbourne’s southeast.

Serial killer Bandali Debs

Mr Hallowes submitted that Roberts, now 41, later told lies to police, his mother and his girlfriend to evade capture over 10 armed robberies he had committed with Debs.

“Jason Roberts was 16 when he started to see Nicole Debs,” Mr Hallowes said.

“And unfortunately that meant that he came into contact with Bandali Debs. As a ­result, he is here today.

“He was no angel as a 17-year-old. He committed those armed robberies. What happened on Cochranes Rd on August 16, 1998, was a tragedy. It was a vile, evil act, committed by Bandali Debs. A vile, evil person, a psychopath and a liar,” he said.

“Jason Roberts was not there, he was not on ­Cochranes Rd.’’

Mr Hallowes spent 2½ days attacking the prosecution case.

In his final address to the jury, he said their case was “flawed’’ and “fell well short’’ of proving the charges.

He submitted that the pattern of the duo committing the armed robberies together, forensic evidence, witness ­accounts, officer Miller’s “dying declaration’’, listening device material and Bandali Debs’ evidence did not put Mr Roberts at the murder scene.

Senior Constable Rodney Miller

Sergeant Gary Silk

Mr Hallowes labelled police officers who had been involved in a dubious statement-making process as the “infamous five’’ who could not be relied on.

And he said the prosecution had “cherrypicked’’ listening device material and came to conclusions which were “guesswork’’.

Debs’ evidence, he said, was motivated by a deal he had ­attempted to negotiate with police. Debs was serving life in a NSW prison for four murders, including those of Sgt Silk and Constable Miller, but the 68-year-old had wanted Victoria Police to organise for him to be moved to a Victorian jail, immunity from further prosecution and a parole date.

After more than three months of hearings involving almost 90 witnesses, the jury will soon be asked by Justice Stephen Kaye to deliberate on a verdict.

Mr Roberts has pleaded guilty to 10 armed robberies and not guilty to the Silk-Miller murders.