The NT News looks back at the biggest cases to face court this year
IT was a big year in the courts in 2020. Here we count down the 20 BIGGEST CASES to face court in 2020
Police & Courts
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IT was a big year in the courts in 2020. From a police officer facing court charged with murder to some massive drug busts, there was never a quiet day in our judicial system. Here we count down the 20 biggest cases to face court in 2020.
1. Zach Rolfe
The drawn-out prosecution of NT Police officer Zach Rolfe culminated in a December ruling that his trial for the alleged murder of 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker would be moved from Alice Springs to Darwin. Rolfe intends to plead not guilty at a trial in the Supreme Court in July, expected to run for up to five weeks.
The case sent shockwaves across Australia and the world when Rolfe was charged with murder last November in the first case of a police officer charged with the death of an Aboriginal person in custody. It sparked protests across the Territory against the over-incarceration of Indigenous Australians in police and prison custody.
2. Ben Hoffmann
Lawyers for alleged Darwin shooter Ben Hoffmann flagged a potential defence that he was mentally impaired during a deadly rampage that resulted in the deaths of four people in June last year when he faced court in April. But by year’s end doubt had been cast on that legal strategy after the Supreme Court heard it may not be raised at his trial due to a lack of evidence.
His case hit a snag in the form of a “financial impasse” in February, when his lawyer Peter Maley told a court that he had to step down from representing Hoffmann, leaving him to face his next court appearance on his lonesome. However, he has since put his affairs in order and is set to go to a trial (with a lawyer) next March, which could last about 10 weeks due to the volume of evidence.
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3. Daniel Keelan
Former NT Police officer Daniel Keelan’s lawyers told the Darwin Local Court he intended to plead guilty to a string of charges, including drug supply, when he faces the Supreme Court next year.
The Palmerston Raiders rugby league coach was released on bail on September 21 after his shock arrest over the previous weekend. It is believed the charges relate to him allegedly supplying cocaine to a colleague.
4. Peter Bravos
Former NT Police assistant commissioner Peter Bravos was found not guilty of raping a fellow officer in 2004 after a two-and-a-half-week trial in August. Speaking outside court after the verdict, Mr Bravos said the case had been “a horrendous ordeal” but that he and his wife Cindy “always had faith in the jury system”.
5. NT Police officer charged with rape
NT Police was forced to defend its decision not to disclose that one of its members, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been charged with rape, or to provide a date for his court appearance, after the man faced the Darwin Local Court in October. NT Police initially refused to specify what charges the 37-year-old faced, but said they were alleged to have occurred while he was off-duty.
6. Coronial inquests into the deaths of Aboriginal children in remote communities
After two major inquests into the deaths of six children who died in remote communities, Coroner Greg Cavanagh again lamented the dire circumstances faced by Aboriginal Territorians as “a disgrace”. “It is tragic and frustrating that the lessons of the past have gained so little traction,” he said. “The time for expressions of sorrow and promises of action in the future, commissions of inquiry and the like are long gone. I implore action rather than words.”
7. Colleen Gwynne
Children’s commissioner Colleen Gwynne said she would “vigorously” defend an allegation of abuse of office after the former high-profile cop made headlines when she was charged by police in July.
Gwynne’s lawyers now plan to cross-examine a number of witnesses during the committal process in the Darwin Local Court early next year. Gwynne has temporarily stood aside from her role as children’s commissioner while defending the charges. Anti-discrimination Commissioner Sally Sievers has been appointed as acting children’s commissioner until further notice.
8. Kezia Purick
Former Speaker Kezia Purick launched a legal bid in the Supreme Court to have a report from corruption watchdog Ken Fleming thrown out after the ICAC Commissioner found she engaged in corrupt conduct in June. Purick is seeking a formal declaration that Mr Fleming “failed to afford (her) natural justice and procedural fairness”.
9. Zarak Bolga
Zarak Bolga, an Indigenous man who spent 100 days in prison after his lawyer said he was wrongly charged, was found not guilty of assault earlier this month. The case drew ire from lawyers and activists when the officer in charge of the case, Constable Jessica Speckman, was summonsed to give evidence in court when Mr Bolga’s defence lawyer was provided with CCTV footage of the alleged incident which seemed to exonerate him. His lawyer was previously told by Constable Speckman, via the prosecution, that no such footage existed.
10. Carolyn Reynolds
Darwin businesswoman Carolyn Reynolds was in and out of court this year as she fought tooth and nail to stop the closure of her Doctors Gully rock climbing gym and Lake Bennett resort. In August, Ms Reynolds likened the Rock Centre dispute to an old fable involving “a Chinese emperor who had died and he was very smelly”.
11. Why I snapped over a spicy chicken wing snack
Kassandra Corrie, 30, was slapped with a criminal conviction in October after throwing a glass at someone’s head following a fight that started over “the forced feeding of spicy chicken wings”. The court heard Corrie was drinking at a venue in Palmerston in late August last year when a “physical altercation” broke out between her and the eventual victim. The prosecutor cited the importance of the rights of patrons to go to a pub and eat “spicy or not spicy chicken wings free of inhibition” and “free of being assaulted”. Corrie was sentenced to a 12-month good behaviour bond.
12. Anti-fracking protesters found not guilty of criminal damage
Following a court battle that lasted more than a year, two anti-fracking activists who drilled holes in the lawns of Parliament House with a bobcat were found not guilty of criminal damage.
Lauren Mellor, 36, and Conrad Rory, 34, pleaded not guilty in relation to the protest in April 2019 which saw about 20 members of the community of Borroloola travel into Darwin for the “mock fracking operation” protest against fracking in the region. In a rather unexpected result, the pair were found not guilty following a two-day hearing, during which they defended the charge by saying they were defending their land and water.
13. Jail sentence for COVID-19 breach
In perhaps the most serious breach of COVID-19 regulations in the Territory, two men from Sydney – which was a COVID-19 hot spot at the time – lied on their border forms before travelling to Nhulunbuy to run their taxi business. Fadhil Al Khazali, 54, and his son Ali Al Khazali, 25, pleaded guilty to contravening an emergency declaration and making a false declaration after saying they had been in Canberra for a period and failing to disclose they had been in Sydney. They were dramatically arrested by helicopter, leaving the remote community terrified for the welfare of its vulnerable residents. Both men were slapped with a two-month prison sentence, suspended immediately, for their “inexplicable” offending.
14. Live cattle ban overturned
In a landmark verdict in June, the Federal Court ruled in favour of NT pastoralists in a 300-strong class action seeking $600m for lost income as a result of a ban on live cattle export to Indonesia in 2011. In a blistering 150-page decision 18 months in the making, Justice Steven Rares found the ban order made by then Labor agriculture minister Joe Ludwig was “capricious” and “unreasonable”. The Brett family, who led the action, was awarded almost $3m in damages, with others now encouraged to stake their claim in a further action.
15. Sex, drugs and croc & roll
Former croc wrangler Simone “Chase” Johnson, 51, avoided a conviction after pleading guilty to selling synthetic cannabis over the counter of her sex shop. The court heard the former Crocosaurus Cove crocodile manager ordered 123 3g packets of “Purple Haze” synthetic cannabis on three separate occasions before it was picked up by a sniffer dog at the Winnellie post office.
She had been selling it as “incense” from behind the counter of her Just 4 Play Adult Boutique in Pinelands, before being busted in August by an undercover cop who purchased the drugs. Johnson was given a six-month good behaviour bond.
16. Volunteer firefighter turned arsonist
Volunteer firefighter Mike Holden (not the former Australian Idol judge, that’s Mark Holden) pleaded guilty to 18 counts of setting bushfires between May 2018 and September last year which destroyed more than 800ha of bushland and threatened lives and property. He was jailed for seven years after breaking the “sacred trust” placed in him by the community and his colleagues. Sentencing Justice Jenny Blokland described his offending as “bizarre”. “In some instances, you participated in extinguishing the very fires you deliberately lit,” she said.
17. Man tells jury he was penetrated by a cucumber in failed bid to get off rape charge
Jeffrey Smith, 60, who told police a sex worker penetrated him with a “large cucumber” to explain away a window she broke while he assaulted her was jailed for eight years. Smith pleaded not guilty at trial with his lawyer, Giles O’Brien Hartcher, telling jurors the story about the cucumber increased his credibility as it was “too embarrassing” to make up. “It is unusual for a man to admit being penetrated by a cucumber, while masturbating, while being spanked on the bottom, while being called filthy names – particularly if it’s not true,” he said. It didn’t work, and he was found guilty in October of two counts of rape and two counts of gross indecency for the attack.
18. Alleged syndicate arrested over 132kg cannabis haul
Seven men were charged and refused bail in relation to a drug bust in October which saw police seize a whopping 132kg of cannabis and almost $2m in cash. Tama Kirikino, Watene Kirikino, Shannon Wagner, Peter James, Corey Graham, Jeremy Ford and Michael Lording all faced court in Darwin, with the prosecution alleging they were all co-offenders in the multi-million-dollar syndicate. They each applied for bail, with alleged kingpin James’ lawyer telling the court his client was a legitimate Darwin businessman who managed landscaping and ATM management businesses as well as Palmerston’s popular Nook cafe. The case will return to court in the new year.
19. Fatal crash mum sentenced over death of her son
Andrea Groening, 25, was sentenced to 12 months in jail for speeding through a red light while drunk and high on cannabis, causing a horror crash that killed her seven-year-old son Mehali Pastrikos.
She pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to two counts of dangerous driving causing death and one count of dangerous driving causing serious harm, following the crash in May last year which also killed her friend, Wade Williams, and injured another man. However, family members of the seven-year-old said “justice wasn’t served” with the 12-month sentence.
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20. Australia Day sausage snafu
Darryl Dighton, 49, was jailed for seven and a half years after he repeatedly ran another man over with his car, leaving him paralysed from the waist down, after a fight that started over sausages. He pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and attempted murder after the attack on the victim on January 26. The court heard Dighton drove to the victim’s house to “borrow” some meat from his freezer for dinner. A fight ensued later that night during which the eventual victim hit Dighton on the head with a wooden club before Dighton twice drove over him with his car. The victim suffered “catastrophic injuries” and will likely never be able to walk again.
Everybody facing Nichols Place Darwin Local Court, Monday, October 7
Here is a list of matters listed at Nichols Place Darwin Local Court on Monday.
Everybody facing Alice Springs Local Court, Monday, October 7
Here is a list of matters listed at Alice Springs Local Court on Monday.