NT Water Police Senior Sergeant Sandi-lee Mellon’s mental health plea following assault charges
The lawyer of a senior Territory police officer has claimed she was unable to tell right from wrong in the wake of her husband's arrest. See how the water cop is fighting to have assault charges dropped.
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A top Territory cop has claimed she was too mentally disturbed to be legally accountable for her actions after she allegedly broke into a Darwin home to assault and threaten to murder a person inside.
NT Water Police Officer in Charge Senior Sergeant Sandi-lee Mellon faces five charges in relation to an incident in a Darwin home on August 26, the day after her husband and fellow officer Neil Mellon was arrested for unrelated conspiracy charges.
It is not alleged Ms Mellon’s charges are related to her husband’s case.
On August 26 Senior Sergeant allegedly trespassed on the Darwin property and unlawfully entered the home before assaulting and making threats to kill another person.
The 46-year-old was also charged with disorderly behaviour and it will be alleged the obscene language was loud enough to be heard from the street.
At the time of her arrest NT Police said Ms Mellon remained a serving officer.
On Thursday her defence lawyer Luke Officer said the top water cop was contesting a mental health report which found she was responsible for her alleged actions.
The court heard the Section 77 report concluded that while Mellon was suffering from a mental illness at the time, her disturbance was not “likely to have materially contributed to the conduct”.
Mr Officer asked for a further four week adjournment after arguing the psychologist applied a high threshold of criminal responsibility.
“He pitches the test for defence as ‘insanity’, in my submission that’s not the test,” Mr Officer said.
“The court does not need to be satisfied of a total and absolute inability to see right from wrong.”
“Insanity is far too high (a bar).”
He said he would be contacting the report’s author about his concerns and pushing for a new Section 77 report to be approved by the Territory’s Chief Psychologist.
Mr Officer said if her report was amended, he would be pushing for prosecutors to drop the case.
Chief Judge Elizabeth Morris raised her concerns that 10 mentions into the assault case, Ms Mellon was yet to enter a formal plea, saying the delays were “no good for her”.
Ms Mellon’s hearing was adjourned to October 26.
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