Protesters learn fate after trespassing on Australian Securities Intelligence Agency’s island base

Four protesters who accused SAS officers of “murdering people for decades” have been handed their punishment on charges of trespassing on Commonwealth property.

Men who alleged that SAS officers had been “murdering people for decades” have been found guilty of trespassing on commonwealth property.

Peter Murnane, Shane Anderson, James Dowling and Greg Rolles appeared before the Geelong Magistrates Court on Thursday on charges of trespassing on the Australian Securities Intelligence Agency’s Swan Island base.

Anderson, Dowling and Rolles were convicted and fined $100 and court costs, while Murnane – the only man without priors – was convicted and discharged.

The court heard that the four men were protesting alleged murders by SAS officers in Afghanistan.

In body-worn camera footage, police captured one man saying that officers trained at the base have been “murdering people for decades”.

(From left) Peter Murnane, Shane Anderson, James Dowling and Greg Rolles.

Twice, Dowling asked the witnesses if they noticed a banner that read “stop training killers, abolish SAS” on the gate behind them.

Magistrate Nunzio La Rosa had to keep interrupting to ask the men to keep their examination and evidence relevant to the specific November 30, 2020 event.

He also had to remind Rolles to use the term “alleged” when making claims about defence force employees during a 2014 incident.

Mr La Rosa also became frustrated when the sound of a mobile phone interrupted his explanation of the proceedings to the four men, and told the accused that he could “stick the thing in a jar of water if you would like”.

During evidence, Rolles attempted to tell the court that he had “first-hand experience” of torture practices being taught on the island to the officers. He claimed he was “stripped naked … and dragged along the ground” by employees at the base during a separate protest event in 2014.

Mr La Rosa often interrupted the men to request that they refrain from using the court as a forum “for such complaint or criticism” of the SAS. He reminded them that the court could not consider the “politicisation” of the issue.

“If any of you stray into a path that seeks to politicise this process for your own or broader issues that (took you) gentlemen to that location without addressing whether you are guilty or not guilty will not be considered,” he said.

Murnane, a Dominican priest with the Catholic Church, told the court that he was there as an “example of a priest, a teacher and a guide”.

“I believe that if I did not go there that day, I would not be using an excellent opportunity to show people truths about war, our country, myself as a person and their responsibilities,” Murnane said.

Originally published as Protesters learn fate after trespassing on Australian Securities Intelligence Agency’s island base