John Ringland McRoberts set to apply for bail on Wednesday morning, having filed an appeal of his conviction for attempting to pervert the course of justice
DISGRACED former NT Police commissioner John McRoberts will spend a third day in a row being shuttled between Holtze prison and the NT Supreme Court, where his legal team is this morning set to argue he should be released ahead of an appeal
Crime and Court
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DISGRACED former NT Police commissioner John McRoberts will spend a third day in a row being shuttled between Holtze prison and the NT Supreme Court, where his legal team is this morning set to argue he should be released ahead of an appeal.
McRoberts’ legal team filed a notice of appeal on Monday and a bail application on Tuesday, and will argue before Justice Stephen Southwood that there are “special or exceptional” circumstances that justify the former top cop’s release from Holtze, where he last night spent his first night as a sentenced inmate.
■ ANALYSIS: ARROGANCE WAS JOHN MCROBERTS’ OWN UNDOING
■ FORMER NT POLICE COMMISSIONER JOHN MCROBERTS SENTENCED TO JAIL
■ GUILTY: FORMER NT POLICE COMMISSIONER JOHN MCROBERTS’ WEB OF SEX, LIES AND DECEIT
McRoberts, 59, was on Tuesday sentenced to three years in jail, suspended after one year served.
He was found guilty last month of a single count of attempting to pervert the course of justice, having repeatedly meddled in the fraud squad investigation in which his secret lover, corrupt travel agent Xana Kamitsis, was the prime arrest target.
In sentencing, Justice Dean Mildren said McRoberts’ offending began with a “lie by omission” on May 2, 2014, when he was briefed on the investigation and failed to declare the full, sexual nature of his relationship with Kamitsis.
That lie then snowballed into what Justice Mildren described as a “gross misuse of power” by McRoberts, who for months improperly meddled in the investigation, which police rules demanded he should have had nothing to do with.
Justice Mildren said the requirement for McRoberts to step aside from the investigation into Kamitsis was “expressly stated” and well known.
He found McRoberts was motivated “either by a desire to protect Kamitsis from a prosecution” or to protect himself from the relationship being exposed.
Justice Mildren found McRoberts called a meeting on the afternoon of June 4, 2014, where he cancelled a proposed raid on Kamitsis’ now-defunct Winnellie travel agency, Latitude Travel, less than three hours after Detective Sergeant Jason Blake had a search warrant approved.
“In my opinion, you somehow found out about the warrant and it was you who called the meeting,” he said.
Justice Mildren found McRoberts continued to improperly involve himself in the investigation as he went about setting up a civil debt recovery scheme as an alternative to the potential criminal prosecution of 27 travel agencies, among them Kamitsis’.
■ LOOKING BACK: TRAVEL AGENT XANA KAMITSIS CAN LEAVE ‘$1m CELL’ WHILE SERVING REST OF HER SENTENCE
“Your motive was to protect Kamitsis, as well as yourself, from the scandal that access to her mobile phone would inevitably give rise to,” he said.
“It was clear that your actions throughout this period was infected by an improper purpose.”
Justice Mildren said most cases of attempting to pervert the course of justice involved bribery or the destruction of evidence, but that McRoberts’ offending was still serious.
He said the offending was planned, and not “just merely a bad decision”.
Justice Mildren said McRoberts’ offending had likely affected police morale and the standing of NT Police in the community.
He said he accepted that McRoberts’ conviction represented a “fall from grace”, and that time in jail would be more difficult for him than other inmates.
“The amount of public opprobrium which you received was quite significant,” he said.
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“It is clear from the (character) references that that publicity and the humiliation which you received has had an effect, both on you and your family.”
He said only a significant period behind bars could send a message to others in power and mark the public disapproval of his conduct.
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