Scott Perry: Closings heard in fake cop home invasion trial

The lawyer for a Corio dad accused of pretending to be a cop during a home invasion claimed the police investigation into the case was flawed.

Scott Perry, inset, is alleged to have posed as a cop during a home invasion in which cash, Nike shoes and numerous cannabis plants were stolen.

The lawyer for a Corio father accused of pretending to be a cop during a Whittington home invasion has lambasted the police investigation into the case and called the credibility of the alleged victims into question.

Scott Perry, 49, is standing trial in the County Court at Geelong on 14 charges, including false imprisonment, home invasion and theft, stemming from two robberies on March 20, 2023.

The prosecution alleges four offenders barged into a Whittington home on Orbit Dr at about 8.20am, pretending to be detectives executing a search warrant on the house.

The offenders held a family of four in the living room as they ransacked the house, taking off with cash, cannabis plants and Nike shoes, as well as two cars.

Minutes before the home invasion, the prosecution alleges the same offenders robbed two brothers walking along Solar Dr.

Three of the offenders’ identities – Abynei Lacey, Ricky Wilson and Mr Perry’s son Zach – were not in dispute. The prosecution alleges Mr Perry was the fourth offender, variously described by the alleged victims as “older” and “chubbier” than the others.

Crown prosecutor Andrew Grant began his lengthy closing address last week, and continued laying out the prosecution’s case against Mr Perry on Monday.

Mr Grant argued the victims’ descriptions of the fourth offender were accurate and consistent, and two of the victims later identified Mr Perry on a photo-board in June 2023.

“This man’s face would have been burnt into their memory,” Mr Grant said.

He said slight discrepancies in the witness’s descriptions could be put down to the “stressful scenario” they found themselves in.

The court heard the thieves took the cannabis and stolen cars to a property in Meredith that Mr Perry owned, and Mr Grant told the jury they could use the evidence to draw inferences about Mr Perry’s movements that day.

Mr Perry’s lawyer, barrister Jonathon Rattray, argued in his closing address that Mr Perry could not be definitively placed alongside Lacey, Wilson and his son.

Mr Rattray argued the prosecution’s case “grossly overstates” elements of the telecommunications evidence, the CCTV footage “doesn’t clearly depict anything” and the accounts of the alleged victims were inconsistent.

Mr Rattray said the photo-board identification of his client was “intrinsically problematic”, the product of an “obviously flawed process”, unreliable and “potentially inaccurate”.

The jury should have “real concerns” about the integrity of the case, and how the police approached it, Mr Rattray said.

He told the jury the months-long delay in photo-boards being presented was questionable, and suggested the investigation was not “fair and impartial policing”.

“They only (presented the photo-board) after I cross examined a police officer about it at a bail application,” Mr Rattray said.

Mr Rattray attacked the credibility of the family who lived at Orbit Dr, arguing they were willing to lie and – in the case of one – commit perjury due to the fact they had “illegal plants” growing in the backyard.

“These are witnesses who are willing to conceal evidence from the police, is it that much of a stretch that they would conceal more evidence?” Mr Rattray asked the jury.

Mr Rattray will continue his closing address on Tuesday.

Originally published as Scott Perry: Closings heard in fake cop home invasion trial