Channel 9 Darwin police reporter Georgie Dickerson’s denies pretending to be a cop for CCTV of Mark Turner’s citizen arrest

A Channel 9 journalist’s lawyer has accused a servo worker of telling a ‘silly little lie’ after releasing sensational footage of a Territory politician’s citizen arrest, a court has heard. Watch the CCTV.

A Channel 9 reporter has denied that she impersonated a cop while on the hunt for footage of a Territory politician making a citizen’s arrest to avert a petrol station explosion.

Darwin police reporter Georgina Sarah Dickerson pleaded not guilty before Darwin Local Court on Wednesday, nine months after she was charged with impersonating a member of the police force on October 17, 2022.

Two days earlier, politician and former cop Blain MLA Mark Turner said he made a citizen’s arrest after he allegedly noticed a young man squirting fuel and possibly sniffing petrol around the Holtze United Service Station

At the time, Mr Turner said he believed he saw a lighter and feared a spark would turn the station into a “fireball”.

In Channel 9 Darwin’s quest for the sensational story, prosecutors alleged the young police reporter pretended to be a cop to gain access to the service station footage.

But defence barrister Mary Chalmers suggested instead there was “room for misunderstanding” when Dickerson introduced herself to the sole worker at the busy Palmerston servo, Sameer Devkota.

Channel 9 Darwin journalist Georgina Sarah Dickerson, left, arrived at Darwin Local Court on Wednesday backed by her chief of staff Kathleen Gazzola and General Manager Steve Shervill. The 26-year-old was charged with impersonating a police officer. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

CCTV footage — which contained no audio — showed the service station attendant wearing an AirPod in his left ear as he was approached by Dickerson and after a 15 second conversation pointed her to the back office.

Ms Chalmers suggested 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 her.

But Mr Devkota maintained: “I asked where she’s from, and she said NT Police”.

But he acknowledged that unlike a plain clothes officer — who wear pants and have their badges on display on their hip — Dickerson was wearing a full-length skirt and no badge, did not write down any forensic details or act like a typical cop.

CCTV also showed that Dickerson arrived in a Channel 9 branded car with a camera operator who was filming the exterior of the station, but Mr Devkota said he had not seen either the vehicle or the camera.

It was only after his manager called that Mr Devkota realised he had breached the company’s policy, which states CCTV can only be given to appropriate law enforcement authorities or a site manager.

Channel 9 Darwin journalist Georgina Sarah Dickerson pleaded not guilty to impersonating a police officer. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

“He tell me like ‘why you give to the Nine?’, and I said ‘I didn’t know she’s from Channel 9’,” he said.

However, Ms Chalmers said the very next day Mr Devkota was “caught red handed” showing Mr Turner the exact same clip when a police officer arrived to also get a copy of the footage.

“You haven’t made any complaint to police that Mr Turner impersonated a police officer or forced you to show him footage,” Ms Chalmers told Mr Devkota.

Ms Chalmers suggested that either Mr Devkota did not have a clear understanding of the CCTV policy, or he told “a silly little lie because you were worried about your job”.

The Holtze servo manager Raj Tiwari told the court he was “a little bit” cross when Mr Devkota breached the national CCTV policy within 24-hours, and made a report to his state manager.

Chief judge Elizabeth Morris is expected to also hear the remaining evidence from Mr Turner, as well as NT Police officer Wayne Tilley and camera operator Emily Plester when the hearing continues on October 6.