NOT GUILTY: Court ruling throws thousands of Darwin and Palmerston drivers’ speeding fines into doubt

THOUSANDS of Top End drivers may have been issued with invalid speeding fines over the past 12 months after a court ruled police speed detection guns were not properly tested

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THOUSANDS of Top End drivers may have been issued with invalid speeding fines over the past 12 months after a court ruled police speed detection guns were not properly tested.

Tania Laurencont was found not guilty of two counts of speeding on Wednesday after Darwin Local Court judge Tanya Fong Lim found NT Police had bungled the testing program.

Ms Fong Lim ruled the tests were not done in accordance with the manufacturer’s user manual, which specified the guns must be tested over a distance that was an exact multiple of a foot.

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Instead, the testing range at the Palmerston police station used a range of exactly 81.2696ft, despite the manual clearly stating “a fraction of a foot will not do”.

Speaking outside court, Ms Laurencont’s lawyer Ray Murphy said while there could be no criticism of the officers who operated the speed guns, there had clearly been a procedural breakdown at NT Police.

“It’s disappointing that the police force, after getting revenue, according to the NT News, of $6.8m per year from speed cameras and red light cameras, don’t follow their own procedures,” he said.

“What’s even more disappointing is that my client has had to go through the ordeal of bringing this to the attention of the courts when the prosecution — and therefore the police — were well aware of it prior to going to hearing.”

Mr Murphy said any other outstanding fines would now be contestable on the same basis as Ms Laurencont’s.

“In relation to fines that have already been paid, I’m not too sure (but) there may very well be an action available, for unjust enrichment, against the government.”

Ms Fong Lim said while there was no suggestion the botched test would result in an incorrect reading, the testing requirements should not be “just viewed as a technicality”.

Tania Laurencont follows her lawyer, Ray Murphy, out of the Darwin Local Court after being found not guilty of speeding. Picture: Jason Walls

“The statutory scheme empowers the Crown to charge members of the public with the offence of speeding without having to prove the technicalities of how the device works and the scheme empowers the police to encroach upon a person’s civil liberties by covertly monitoring their driving to gain information about their speed,” she said.

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“If the Crown cannot ensure all of the necessary steps as required under the legislation are complied with, then it is clearly undesirable to admit the evidence and while it is desirable to ensure people are not speeding on our roads, the Crown must comply with its own statutory requirements.”

NT Police Commander Travis Wurst said police were reviewing the potential impact of yesterday’s decision.

“As soon as we were aware of the issue we took steps to ensure the accuracy of future tests,” he said.

“The collection of fines is not a police matter.”

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