The year that was: Biggest Tasmanian court cases of 2022
During 2022, Tasmania’s court system ploughed through some of the most brutal, heartbreaking and complex cases in the state’s history. Here are some of the biggest cases that unfolded.
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OVER the past 12 months, Tasmania’s court system has ploughed through some of the most brutal, heartbreaking and complex cases ever witnessed in the state’s history.
The courts and legal system was back in full swing this year after being hampered by backlogs of cases that built up during the pandemic, a logjam that has eased with the appointment of Tamara Jago as the Supreme Court’s seventh judge.
Court cases in 2022 were far from simple or straightforward – with inquiries, inquests, hearings and trials stretching out over weeks and months.
The year has also witnessed its fair share of shock revelations – from the suspension of Tasmania’s chief psychiatrist to the provisional solving of a 1978 cold case, to news Tasmania Police had been illegally running a surveillance device at Risdon Prison, and disturbingly, a litany of damning cover-up allegations over institutional child sexual abuse.
Here are some of the biggest cases that unfolded.
Child sexual abuse commission of inquiry
The past year has been a watershed for Tasmanian survivors of child sexual abuse.
It wasn’t just their heartbreaking stories of abuse that were aired publicly, many for the first time, under the auspices of the child sexual abuse commission of inquiry.
These survivors, disbelieved for many years, also shared disturbing evidence that paedophilic behaviour within Tasmanian government institutions has been covered-up, buried under clouds of corruption and incompetent management, for decades.
The commission of inquiry hearings, which were held in Hobart and Launceston between May and September this year, heard from 165 witnesses.
It canvassed a litany of shameful failures to protect children at the Ashley Youth Detention Centre, Launceston General Hospital, out-of-home care and Tasmania’s state schools.
The commission will provide its final report and recommendations to the Governor of Tasmania in May 2023.
Inquest into suicide deaths of four Tasmania Police officers
A lengthy inquest into the suicide deaths of four Tasmania Police officers heard evidence about the stress, workloads, post traumatic stress disorder suffered by the force across the state.
It also heard how Tasmania Police has not been equipped to deal with these problems, with inadequate mental health and welfare support, and how some of its officers have taken their own lives without getting the help they needed to deal with the trauma of their jobs.
The inquest, which was held in both Launceston and Hobart during November and December, also heard about the disturbing case of Senior Sergeant Paul Reynolds, a respected member of the force who played key roles in the Beaconsfield Mine disaster and Port Arthur massacre.
The inquest heard Snr Sgt Reynolds “was a notorious paedophile who had been preying on boys online”, and had drained his unwell mother’s bank account of $180,000 from the sale of her home.
Snr Sgt Reynolds died by suicide after his home was raided by his colleagues amid the online abuse allegations.
Coroner Simon Cooper is expected to return his findings next year.
German national jailed for erotic asphyxiation manslaughter
German national Tobias Pick pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of a woman during sex by erotic asphyxiation after Jingai Zhang, 49, died in her Launceston home on Boxing Day, 2020.
The sex worker died at the scene, while Pick fled the scene, taking her mobile phone, which he threw in the North Esk River, and $2400 cash.
He was initially charged with murder, but ultimately pleaded guilty to the lesser crime of manslaughter.
In December, Pick was jailed for a maximum five years, but will be eligible for parole as of June 2023.
Four jailed over the sword death of Burnie dad
In December, four North-West Tasmanians were jailed over the manslaughter of young Burnie dad Bobby Medcraft.
Kelsey Maree Ford, Lucas Shane Ford, Michael William Hanlon and Cody Christopher Shane Sheehan are all now behind bars after Mr Medcraft died on March 29, 2020 from acute blood loss.
He’d been bashed and cut with a sword to his leg in an Upper Burnie street.
The four killers had been charged with murder, but a jury ultimately acquitted them of that charge and returned a verdict of manslaughter instead.
Freedom for Tasmania’s most infamous female prisoner
Tasmania’s most infamous female prisoner became a free woman again in 2022.
Sue Neill-Fraser was released in October after 13 years incarcerated in the Mary Hutchinson Women’s Prison over the murder of her partner Bob Chappell, whose body has never been found.
Neill-Fraser has always staunchly protested her innocence, with years of massive media coverage, numerous appeals, and unwavering belief from a dedicated base of supporters.
But the Parole Board of Tasmania decision gave a rare insight into the pain of Mr Chappell’s family, stating Neill-Fraser had no remorse for her crime and had not helped the victims’ family locate his body.
Covert listening devices left running at Risdon Prison
In August, it was revealed that a criminal case against Sue Neill-Fraser’s former lawyer, Jeffrey Ian Thompson, for allegedly perverting the course of justice, had been dropped.
But it was the reasons why the case was discharged that caused an uproar.
Supreme Court judge Michael Brett found evidence against Mr Thompson had not been legally obtained by Tasmania Police.
In fact, as it turned out, police had left covert listening devices running continuously at a Risdon Prison meeting room for two months – recording all conversations that occurred within its walls, not just the ones in question.
The warrant used to authorise the devices in the first place also turned out to be invalid.
The police “bungle” led to an announcement the force would be subjected to an independent review over its use of surveillance devices.
Suspension of Tasmania’s chief psychiatrist over alleged relationship with woman
In October, the national medical regulator confirmed it had suspended the licence of Tasmania’s chief psychiatrist, Aaron Groves.
It was then revealed in a Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal decision that Dr Groves had allegedly had a relationship with a “highly vulnerable” female patient.
Dr Groves has denied wrongdoing, saying it was not a doctor-patient relationship.
A review of the Medical Board of Australia’s suspension decision will be heard at an upcoming hearing.
Councillor flashes penis at Crown prosecutor on Boat Harbour Beach
One of the strangest court stories of the year would have to be that of businessman and now-former Waratah-Wynyard councillor Darren Fairbrother.
In January 2021, Fairbrother stood on a rock at Boat Harbour Beach, opened his towel and flashed his genitals three times at a mother and her son.
By a bizarre stroke of chance, that mother was Crown prosecutor Kate Brown, who was holidaying with her family.
Fairbrother hid his face with a towel when he realised Mrs Brown was recording him with her phone.
In May, he was fined $800 after he was found guilty of prohibited behaviour, and placed on the sex offenders’ register for two years.
He refused to stand down from his role on council, but was suspended after his peers lodged a complaint against him with the Local Government Code of Conduct Panel.
Seven-year wait to finalise tragic child manslaughter case
One of the most tragic cases to reach Tasmanian courts this year was that of seven-year-old Akira Carroll, who died by a falling tree during an ill-fated “wood-hooking” trip.
In September this year, Akira’s mother’s ex-partner, Joshua George Hector Clark, was found guilty of manslaughter by culpable negligence, by felling the tree in 2015 that struck the child’s head.
The heartbreaking case took seven years to reach trial, with delays by Tasmania Police, a court backlog worsened by the pandemic, and the fact Clark had moved interstate slowing down the process.
Multi-million dollar stoush over Hobart mogul’s estate grinds to a halt
It was set to become one of the biggest, most high-profile estate stoushes that Tasmania had ever seen.
The son of Hobart property mogul, Ali Sultan, commenced proceedings against his father’s key business associates, including some with high-profile names and roles.
Moe Sultan alleged in court documents these people wrongly appointed them executors of his father’s will, and in some instances, money from the estate had been misused.
Moe said his father had a limited grasp of written English, and that the wills in question were not valid as “he did not know and approve his contents” when he executed them.
Before the stoush was set to play out in the Supreme Court this July, all nine defendants bowed out, renouncing their involvement as executors, and Moe Sultan withdrawing his claims against them.
While the exact value of his estate remains unclear, it is estimated at “many tens of millions of dollars”.
Justice Michael Brett is yet to deliver his decision.
TT-Line found guilty of animal welfare charges after 16 horses died aboard
A case that has horrified animal-lovers, equestrians and Bass Strait travellers is the long-running Spirit of Tasmania polo pony deaths calamity.
The case dates back to 2018, when 16 horses died on-board by suffocation after competing at a Barnbougle tournament.
Finally in October this year, after the case had dragged out through various appeals and attempts by government-owned operator TT-Line not to be held responsible, it was found guilty of 29 animal welfare charges.
TT-Line was due to be sentenced in the Burnie Magistrates Court this December, but this has been delayed due to the operator immediately filing an appeal over its conviction in the Supreme Court.
Cold case provisionally solved in mother’s 1978 disappearance
In 1978, Darlene Avis Geertsema went missing without a trace, with her six children left to grow up without a mother.
It’s a case that has left Ms Geertsema’s family devastated, and left without answers, for more than four decades, and has long baffled the Tasmanian community.
Finally, a coroner found in June this year that Ms Geertsema was killed by her former partner John Shepherd.
However, Coroner Simon Cooper was unable to determine how she died or the location of her body.
Mr Shepherd has not been charged in relation to Ms Geertsema’s death.
Jacqui Lambie’s former staffers lose bizarre unfair dismissal battle
In another strange, multidimensional case to hit the courts this year, two of Jacqui Lambie’s former employees attempted to sue the Senator for unfair dismissal.
The lengthy stoush played out in the Federal Court of Australia and was replete with tears, allegations galore, and plenty of dirty laundry airing.
Husband-and-wife team Rob and Fern Messenger were sacked by the outspoken Senator in 2017 after their working relationship had “completely broken down”.
The Messengers claimed they were only dismissed after a “whistleblowing letter” – which was copied to the office of then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull – detailing a number of allegations about Senator Lambie, including about her drinking, swearing, behaviour, office management after an apparent terror threat in 2015, and discussion of her sex life in the office.
Senator Lambie said the letter was “humiliating and absolutely degrading”.
Justice John Snaden found the letter was sent in bad faith, in an attempt to “inoculate” themselves after they were accused of bullying by other staff.
He found the Messengers had not proved they were unfairly dismissed, and that in fact they were each guilty of serious misconduct at the time of their dismissal.
Originally published as The year that was: Biggest Tasmanian court cases of 2022
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