Channel 9 Darwin crime reporter Georgie Dickerson not guilty of cop impersonation, fighting for NT Police to pay legal costs

Channel 9 Darwin crime reporter Georgie Dickerson will fight to force Territory cops to pay her legal bill after being cleared of allegations she masqueraded as a police officer to get CCTV footage.

A Channel 9 crime reporter is trying to force NT Police to pay her legal fees after being falsely accused of pretending to be a cop to get her hands on CCTV footage.

Darwin police reporter Georgina Sarah Dickerson was on Friday found not guilty of impersonating a member of the police force, following a two-day local court hearing before Chief Judge Elizabeth Morris.

Police had alleged that Ms Dickerson masqueraded as an officer in order to get a copy of footage of a Territory politician Blain MLA Mark Turner conducting a citizen’s arrest outside the Holtze United Service Station in October.

Mr Turner claimed he tackled a young man to the ground in the belief he was averting a destructive ‘fireball’ after allegedly seeing the man squirting fuel and holding a lighter at one of the petrol bowsers.

Prosecutor Tamara Grealy alleged that to get her hands on this footage, the “keen, thorough, and investigative” young journalist told a “silly little lie” to the sole worker at the busy Palmerston servo, Sameer Devkota.

Channel 9 Darwin journalist Georgina Sarah Dickerson arriving at Darwin Local Court. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

However, Chief Judge Elizabeth Morris refuted this claim, saying it was a “big call” to allege a journalist would risk her entire career for the relatively run-of-the-mill footage.

“Everyone who wants to be really competent in their job, it’s a little step into illegality? To telling a lie? To a criminal offence?” Ms Morris asked Ms Grealy.

“Are you a thorough lawyer? Would you tell a lie?”

Ms Morris summarised the prosecution case as coming down to three words from an “evasive” and “unreliable” witness, Mr Devkota.

Judge Elizabeth Morris in her office in the Darwin Local Court. Picture: Che Chorley

Throughout the hearing Mr Devkota maintained Ms Dickerson told him she was “from NT Police”, however Ms Morris said there was no corroborating evidence to this claim.

Indeed CCTV footage shown to the court showed Ms Dickerson arriving at the servo in a marked Channel 9 car, and her camera operator Emily Plester walking around outside with a large camera and tripod.

Defence barrister Mary Chalmers pointed out that in the CCTV footage — which contains no audio — Mr Devkota could be seen “pondering” the decision to give Ms Dickerson access during a 20 second conversation, which she said he would not have done if she was actually a cop.

Ms Chalmers said that due to Mr Devkota expecting a police visit, having to deal with customers, his headphones and difficulties understanding each other’s accents, he possibly misheard Ms Dickerson.

But she also suggested Mr Devkota lied to police and his manager after getting in trouble for breaching the company’s policy, which states CCTV can only be given to appropriate law enforcement authorities or a site manager.

“For many people the most serious thing that can happen to them is the loss of their job, and certainly I can’t dismiss that may have been active in his mind,” Ms Morris said.

The court heard neither Channel 9 employees expected to get the footage, with Ms Plester said they went in because “there’s no harm in asking”.

Channel 9 Darwin camera operator Emily Plester appeared as a witness in the Darwin Local Court after police reporter Georgina Sarah Dickerson was charged with impersonating a police officer. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

When the young reporter told her camera operator she had access, Ms Plester texted back “F—k yeah” and Ms Dickerson responded: “Glad I didn‘t bet my life on it lol” and told her not to bring the camera inside.

While Prosecutor Tamara Grealy suggested these texts were evidence of a “bet” or even a plot to trick the petrol station worker, Ms Morris said that was a “too long a bow to draw”.

Ms Morris concluded the case simply boiled down to three words from Mr Devkota which did not go “beyond reasonable doubt” and found Ms Dickerson not guilty.

Ms Chalmers told the court that the defence would be applying for NT Police to pay for Ms Dickerson’s legal costs.