Charges dropped against NT Children‘s Commissioner Colleen Gwynne

The NT’s Children’s Commissioner has had a charge of abuse of public office against her dropped, in a sensational move as her marathon trial was set to resume.

The Territory’s Children’s Commissioner Colleen Gwynne gives a statement outside the Supreme Court in Darwin after being found not guilty of one count of abuse of public office on Tuesday.

The Territory’s Children’s Commissioner Colleen Gwynne has been cleared of a charge of abuse of public office in a sensational move on day four of her Supreme Court trial.

Prosecutor Georgia Wright told Justice John Burns on Tuesday she had been advised by the NT Director of Public Prosecutions to drop the case against Ms Gwynne.

“It is our position that the Crown will produce no further evidence and there is no objection from the Crown to the verdict of not guilty being entered,” Ms Wright said.

Justice John Burns told the jury that following his decisions on certain questions of law, the Crown had withdrawn its case.

“There has been a development in the trial, and I do not know if it will come as a pleasant or unpleasant surprise to you,” Justice Burns said.

“Based upon certain rulings that I made on questions of law, after hearing arguments on Friday, that they will proceed no further with the trial.”

Due to a procedural quirk of the Territory, Justice Burns then asked the jury to return a verdict of ‘not guilty’ to one count of abuse of public office.

Ms Gwynne continuously signalled throughout the pre-trial and trial process that she would plead not guilty to the charge.

The Territory’s Children’s Commissioner Colleen Gwynne gives a statement outside the Supreme Court in Darwin after being found not guilty of one count of abuse of public office on Tuesday.

It was originally alleged that between December 1, 2018 and June 16, 2019, Ms Gwynne used her public officer role to hire her friend, Laura Dewson, and install her as her second-in-command.

Both women worked at NT Police before joining the Office of the Children’s Commissioner.

Ms Gwynne has been on leave from the top role since being charged in 2020.

Prosecution openings lasted for a day and a half last week, but Ms Gwynne’s defence team was not given the opportunity to rebut before the case was dropped.

Ms Gwynne’s lawyers have previously argued the allegations were “trivial”.

The Supreme Court trial ended after four days, despite being expected to run for six weeks and hear evidence from senior Territory government figures.

Justice Burns thanked the 15-person jury and legal teams for their commitment to the potentially 30-day trial.

“It has now been brought to a premature end but we wouldn’t have been able to get to this point if we hadn’t empanelled a jury and embarked upon the trial,” he said.

“I want to thank counsel for their assistance in what has been a difficult exercise in attempting to interpret the legislation in this matter.”