Police officer Daniel Keneally charged with fabricating evidence over phone call

The police officer son of former politician Kristina Keneally has been charged with fabricating evidence after he allegedly made false claims about a phone call he answered while working at Newtown police station.

It’s been alleged that Daniel Keneally, 24, falsely accused a member of the public of making serious threats of violence against police in February 2021, resulting in charges being laid.

The issue was raised as a private members’ business item in the NSW Legislative Council in November last year by One Nation MP and former police officer Rod Roberts.

Daniel Keneally, the police officer son of former politician Kristina Keneally, has been charged with fabricating evidence.Credit: Twitter

Roberts said Luke Moore called the police station on the evening of February 24 and spoke with Keneally, who then completed a formal statement about the call.

“Unbeknown to Constable Keneally at the time, Mr Moore had recorded the telephone conversation,” Roberts said last year.

Keneally allegedly claimed that Moore made threats to the police commissioner and serious threats of violence against police, parliament was told.

Moore was charged by the Fixated Persons Unit with two counts of using a carriage service to menace and one count of using a carriage service to threaten to kill. He was refused bail and spent three weeks in custody before charges were withdrawn.

Daniel Keneally with his mother, former politician Kristina Keneally, in 2017.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“What we have here is a man that has been arrested on a purely verbal and loaded situation,” Roberts said.

“Constable Keneally provided a statement and signed it. In it, he detailed a conversation between him and Moore – ‘I said’, ‘He said’. But we must remember that Moore had recorded the conversation ... We know that because there is a tape in existence of what really happened.”

The charges against Moore were dropped in June 2021 after he produced the recording of the phone call.

Keneally was issued a future court attendance notice on Tuesday for one count of fabricating false evidence with intent to mislead a judicial tribunal. He is due to face Downing Centre Local Court on November 17.

NSW Police said his employment status is under review.

In a statement, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) said police had initially launched an investigation into Keneally, which was taken over by the commission late last year.

Following a private examination in January this year, LECC provided a report to the NSW Police Commissioner and the Police Minister recommending that advice should be obtained from the Director of Public Prosecutions about a prosecution of Keneally.

“The commission recently received advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions,” a LECC spokesman said.

“Criminal proceedings have now been commenced against Constable Keneally by an officer of the commission alleging one offence of fabricating false evidence with the intent to mislead any judicial tribunal contrary to s 317(b) Crimes Act 1900.”

When the matter is first mentioned in court, the DPP will take over the prosecution.

LECC’s report about Keneally has remained private due to the possibility of criminal proceedings. Once the criminal case has been concluded, the report is expected to be made public.

A LECC spokesperson said no further comment could be made because criminal proceedings are now on foot.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.