Police officer in Shadow of Doubt abuse case formed romance with complainant

A couple jailed after their daughter recovered memories of sadistic sexual abuse say they are disturbed a police officer involved in the case became her de facto partner.

Episode 8 of our gripping investigative podcast Shadow of Doubt is live now. Illustration and design by Emilia Tortorella.

A married couple jailed after their daughter recovered memories of sadistic sexual abuse say they are disturbed a police officer involved in the case became their daughter’s de facto partner.

The convicted mother, now serving a 16-year jail sentence, has told The Australian’s Shadow of Doubt podcast that the police officer’s personal involvement with their daughter raised serious concerns about the way their case was investigated.

The parents consulted the police officer, a family friend, after their 17-year-old daughter returned from an overseas sporting event and reported that she had been sexually assaulted by a team official.

The police officer interviewed their daughter and filed a report in the NSW Police Force database before passing the case on to a detective. He later visited the young woman in a psychiatric ward where she was detained over suicide attempts.

In hospital, the young woman experienced memories of her ­father raping her at the age of eight. The police officer took an interest in the case, according to the young woman’s former boyfriend, and discovered her father had faced allegations of sexually assaulting female students when he was a high school teacher in the 1980s.

The couple’s daughter subsequently recovered memories of torture and sexual assault extending from the age of five to adulthood; her parents were convicted of 83 counts of abuse in the NSW District Court and her father is serving a 48-year sentence.

Speaking from prison, the young woman’s mother said although the police officer played no official role in the investi­gation, she was disturbed that her daughter had moved into his home after the trial. Social media posts showed them holidaying together and hugging each other.

“He was a police officer, at the time when I took … my daughter to give her first statement about what had happened overseas,” the mother said. “He was at the local police station close to the one where our case was being pursued … I can’t help but wonder how much impact that had.

“I have a real problem with the fact that … they became a couple. And also the age difference, as a mother. And I just wonder – my daughter, being so young and so mentally unwell – what his interest was in her.”

NSW police have declined to comment on the case, and relatives of the young woman say her relationship with the police officer ended last year.

The Shadow of Doubt podcast is investigating the couple’s claim that their daughter’s allegations of prolonged sexual abuse and torture were based on false memories she recovered during hundreds of hours of counselling.

They are preparing to apply for a judicial review of their case.

Greg Walsh, a solicitor who is representing the mother pro bono, said the relationship between the police officer and his client’s daughter raised questions about the police probe.

He said although police were trained to maintain objectivity, there was a danger in child sexual abuse cases of investigators becoming emotionally involved.

“What often can occur is that a particular officer can form a dysfunctional emotional attachment to the complainant or ­alleged victim,” Mr Walsh said.

“By the very nature of the subject matter of sexual abuse and sexual assault, they can too ­readily become emotionally attached and often they lose their objectivity.

“That is a professional problem that in my experience frequently happens.”

Mr Walsh recalled a similar case he handled in the 1990s, in which a married couple and an elderly grandmother were prosecuted after the couple’s teenage daughter recovered memories of sadistic and bizarre abuse while undergoing counselling.

The couple discovered that their daughter had formed a de facto relationship with the ­investigating police officer, and the mother and grandmother were later awarded $165,000 compensation for wrongful imprisonment.

The family at the centre of the current case cannot be identified for legal reasons.

The images used with this podcast investigation are for illustrative purposes only and bear no resemblance to the real people in this story, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.