Phone call revealed in case of ex-NSW premier’s cop son convicted of fabricating evidence

The son of former NSW premier Kristina Keneally has appealed against his conviction for fabricating a statement that wrongfully landed a man behind bars.

The police officer son of former NSW premier Kristina Keneally has launched an appeal after he was found guilty of fabricating a statement that landed an innocent man behind bars, with a judge labelling it an “extraordinary mistake”.

Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court was on Thursday played a 12-minute phone call between isuepolice.com founder Luke Moore and Keneally, who was at the time on duty at Newtown Police Station

Keneally was last year found guilty of falsifying an official report about the February 2021 phone call during which Mr Moore complained about illegal strip searches.

The court was previously told Keneally, in a formal statement, claimed Mr Moore had made threats about wanting a Goulburn detective “dead” and had said he was “as good as gone”.

However, in the phone call played to the court on Thursday, Mr Moore made no such threats.

Mr Moore was imprisoned on remand for three weeks before a recording of the call resulted in the charges being dropped.

Keneally was charged with one count of fabricating evidence with intent to mislead a judicial tribunal. He pleaded not guilty before he was convicted by a magistrate following a local court hearing last year.

Daniel Keneally was found guilty of falsifying an official report but has launched an appeal. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Nikki Short

In his sentencing remarks earlier this year, magistrate Rodney Brender described Keneally’s offending as a serious “crime against public justice” and sentenced him to a 15-month intensive corrections order.

Keneally has appealed against his conviction and on Thursday appeared in the dock at Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court as his barrister argued that Keneally had never intended to make a false statement.

The court was previously told Keneally accepted there were differences between his statement and the recording.

His lawyers have argued that Keneally had unintentionally conflated the phone call with material from Mr Moore’s website, which Keneally was reading while he was on the phone to Mr Moore.

In the phone call, Mr Moore was heard calling the station and saying: “I am Luke Moore, founder and CEO of Isuepolice.com.

“Is there someone there I can talk to about unlawful strip searches of innocent men, women and children?”

“Ahh right, what’s the company you represent?” Mr Keneally asked.

He said he was calling every police station in NSW to put them “on notice” that if any officer from that point on performed an illegal strip search they would open themselves up to being sued, including for aggravated damages.

“I’m on the website now, it’s quite interesting,” Keneally says at one point.

During the 12-minute phone call, Mr Moore talked at length about his company, how it was suing police on behalf of alleged victims and how he had been awarded $30,000 for an illegal strip search.

He also said he was hiring former police and officers were not being properly trained by then NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller.

“I got $30,000, my lawyer got $38,000. It was a week’s work,” Mr Moore said.

“So the amount of money now that I’m making from these claims that come forward, I can outsource the work, pay someone $4000 to do it and still bill NSW taxpayers $40,000.

“So I can clear-as-day, make myself, personally $35,000 profit on each and every one of these claims.”

At the end of Mr Moore’s spiel, he stops to ask for Keneally’s name but is met with silence on the other end.

“Sorry what was your name again officer… Sorry officer… Hello… Hello,” Mr Moore said before the call ended.

Isuepolice.com founder Luke Moore was wrongly imprisoned on remand for three weeks. Picture: Supplied

Judge John Pickering, who is hearing Keneally’s appeal, said Mr Moore’s tone wasn’t aggressive and threatening on the phone call.

Judge Pickering described some content on Mr Moore’s website as “offensive” and “quite frankly disgusting”.

The court was told that the website included the phrase: “I would never advocate for violence against police unless it was reasonable in the circumstances.”

Keneally claims he didn’t intend to give false evidence. Picture: NewsWire/Nikki Short.

Judge Pickering said it would be an “extraordinary mistake and one with real consequences” had Keneally, as he had claimed, mixed up content on the website with what was said in the phone call.

“It’s a pretty extraordinary mistake to make, just as a human being. It’s a big mistake to make because just from listening to the phone call, it did not happen … To put it in a statement a few hours later is quite extraordinary,” Judge Pickering said.

Keneally’s barrister, Mike Smith, told the court that his client had misapprehended parts of the website because he was “speed reading” at the time.

Mr Smith argued that he “accepted (the report) was inaccurate, we don’t accept it was deliberately false”.

He said Keneally did not intend to give false evidence and argued the Crown prosecution could not prove intent.

Judge Pickering will hand down his decision on the appeal on Friday afternoon.