By Erin Pearson and Melissa Cunningham
Two detectives accused of orchestrating a wrongful prosecution have been ordered to stand trial following the botched early-morning intercept of an army reservist motorist.
Detective senior constables Nathan Daniel Evans and Thomas Edward Horsburgh appeared on Thursday in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, where both were committed to stand trial on charges of professional misconduct and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Charges of perjury were discharged.
Nathan Daniel Evans leaving court.Credit: Simon Schluter
The court heard that in June 2020 the two officers tried to prosecute an army reservist on charges including endangering the safety of an emergency services worker after the man fled a police road stop in Longwarry, south-east of Melbourne. The army reservist later said he sped away because he thought he was about to become the victim of a late-night carjacking.
Evans wrote in a statement that he feared for his life when the driver fled the scene, saying his arms and torso were still in the car as he tried to remove the driver’s keys.
The army reservist was arrested and charged the following day with offences including risking the safety of an emergency service worker.
But serious discrepancies in the officers’ account later emerged from service station CCTV footage. Video allegedly showed the Mercedes driver fleeing the scene before Evans reached the vehicle.
Police officer Thomas Edward Horsburgh outside court.Credit: Simon Schluter
During an earlier hearing, the driver told the court he was travelling along the Princes Highway between Drouin and Longwarry when he noticed headlights approaching from behind at 3.30am. The Drouin man said that soon after he pulled over near a service station to buy cigarettes, two senior constables on patrol in a marked divisional van pulled up.
He told the court he had been unaware at the time that they were police and he had feared he was going to be carjacked when he fled the scene. He crashed nearby into a ditch and later hitchhiked home.
Due to the serious nature of the allegations against the army reservist, his licensed firearms were seized as he was determined not to be a “fit and proper person”.
The man was instead prosecuted for careless driving and hitchhiking. The two police were later investigated by professional standards command following inquiries from The Age about their conduct.
In April 2023, The Age revealed the pair had been arrested over allegations they maliciously prosecuted a man after he was charged with endangering an officer’s safety at a regional service station.
During recent hearings in the case, defence barristers Chris Farrington and Anthony Lewis sought to have the charges dropped, telling the court the police officers’ conduct did not warrant criminal intervention.
Farrington said the prosecution was forcing a case through to trial for no good reason and argued the prospect of securing a conviction against Evans was fanciful based on the evidence.
A CCTV image shows police pulling in alongside the Mercedes at the entrance to the service station, top right.
Lawyers representing Horsburgh also sought to have charges dropped, telling the court there were “fundamental and factual falsehoods” contained in the case against the two detectives.
But magistrate Tim Schocker found there was sufficient evidence to put before a jury and ordered that the pair stand trial in the County Court on a date to be fixed.
Evans and Horsburgh pleaded not guilty to all charges and were placed on bail.
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