Victorian coroner accused of taking home leftover wine

The career of one of Victoria’s most senior judicial appointments ­appears to have reached a Sliding Doors moment.

Victorian State Coroner Judge Sara Hinchey.

The career of one of Victoria’s most senior judicial appointments ­appears to have reached a Sliding Doors moment, with state coroner Sarah Hinchey under investigation over whether she took home wine left over from an office party.

Judge Hinchey has been sidelined from her job for eight months after multiple, unnamed colleagues lodged a slew of complaints against her, ranging from bullying, intimidation, misuse of public funds and asking two ­female staff to perform a suggestive dance for an office revue.

The Judicial Commission of Victoria yesterday announced it had conducted a preliminary investigation into 92 allegations against Judge Hinchey and dismissed 87 as either trivial or unsubstantiated.

Of the five complaints that weren’t thrown out, only one — the case of some missing wine bought for a December 2017 party to welcome a new coroner to court — was referred for more investigation.

The other four allegations were referred to Judge Hinchey’s boss, Victorian County Court Chief Justice Peter Kidd, for counselling.

These include:

● An episode where Judge Hinchey removed her skirt during a meeting so that a former employee could try it on;

● Her severe reprimand of legal services staff that “could have been understood as threatening to harm the professional reputations of those people’’;

● Swearing during meetings, and;

● Encouraging two women to perform a sexy dance on film for a joint Coroners Court and ­Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine revue.

Gwyneth Paltrow in a scene from Sliding Doors.

Nine newspapers reported last year the staff were asked to perform a caterpillar, a 1980s breakdance move, and a non-specified “slut dance”.

The judicial commission found these matters “may affect or have affected the performance of Judge Hinchey’s functions or may have infringed the standards of conduct generally expected of judicial officers”. The allegation that Judge Hinchey helped herself to bottles of wine left over from an ­office party is reminiscent of a scene in the movie Sliding Doors, when Gwyneth Paltrow’s character is sacked from a public relations company for “borrowing’’ a few bottles of Smirnoff.

Judge Hinchey, a barrister of 23 years experience and County Court judge and state coroner since 2015, disputes the allegation. She told the JVC the only wine she took home was bottles she bought with her own money.

The career implications however, are serious. “The commission was of the opinion it could, if substantiated, amount to proven misbehaviour such as to warrant removal from office,’’ a commission statement read.

It said a three-person investigating panel would be established “to consider the single allegation concerning the alleged removal of alcohol purchased using Coroners Court funds for personal use”.

Judge Hinchey is a renowned foodie. Before her appointment to the bench, she ran cooking workshops for truffle enthusiasts and tweeted recipes under the handle “The Truffle Hound”.

She is also renowned for her plain speaking, robust approach.

The complaints against her are understood to have been made by career bureaucrats who resisted changes she wanted to make to the operations of the Coroners Court.