Police media adviser Chelsea Rogers faces court in Alice Springs on leaking charges

A staffer from the NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services media unit is charged with data breach and disclosure offences. Read about what happened in court here.

An NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services media adviser has been excused from attending court after being charged with leaking confidential information and unlawfully accessing data.

Chelsea Sharyn Rogers, 38, was served with a notice to appear in the Alice Springs Local Court in August following an investigation by NT Police’s Special References Unit.

On Monday, her lawyer Elyse Williams applied for Rogers to be excused from attending, which was granted without objection from police prosecutor Sergeant Jason Canning.

Ms Williams said she was “in regular contact” with Rogers and asked judge Sarah McNamara for a four week adjournment due to the size of the brief of evidence.

“I appreciate it is a lengthy adjournment, however, it is a voluminous brief,” she said.

Defence lawyer Elyse Williams outside the Alice Springs Local Court on Monday.

“I did obtain it approximately two weeks ago, however, upon review there are a number of items outstanding in the preliminary brief that I need to request from police prosecutions in order to then have an accurate understanding of how the matter (can) progress.”

NT Police previously refused to confirm that Ms Rogers was a PFES employee, saying she was “not a police officer”, so “transparency guidelines don’t apply”.

On Monday, a PFES spokesman said “a 38-year-old employee” had been charged and “stood down without pay”.

Ms Williams did not indicate how her client intended to plead and the case will return to court on October 31.