The Sydney Morning Herald 13 October 2012:
THE lawyer for the woman who blew the whistle on the disgraced former MP Steve Cansdell for falsifying a statutory declaration has accused police of threatening her and then lying about their reasons for not pursuing charges against him.
He is also calling for an independent inquiry into the way police have handled the case.
Mr Cansdell, who was parliamentary secretary for police, resigned from State Parliament in September last year after admitting to signing a false statutory declaration that an aide, Kath Palmer, was driving when he was caught speeding in 2005.
On Wednesday NSW police issued a statement saying they would not pursue charges as the Commonwealth director of public prosecutions said there were not reasonable prospects of a conviction for a federal offence. It noted that Ms Palmer ''declined to be interviewed by officers''.
Advertisement
But Ms Palmer's solicitor, Mark Spagnolo, said yesterday the statement was ''a lie''. In an email to police on October 19 last year, seen by the Herald, Mr Spagnolo said while Ms Palmer declined to be formally interviewed she would make an ''induced statement'' which would protect her from prosecution.
Mr Spagnolo said this was because the investigator, Detective Peter O'Reilly, had earlier told him police were considering charging Ms Palmer with ''perverting the course of justice'' for her part in the false statutory declaration.
Mr Spagnolo said Detective O'Reilly rejected the offer of an induced statement.
According to a file note made by Mr Spagnolo, Detective O'Reilly said ''he did not have to go down that path as Mr Cansdell was going to, using his words, throw his hands up to the matter and therefore as Kath made it public in the newspapers the police will be investigating charges of her''.
Yesterday Mr Spagnolo said Ms Palmer felt ''completely wronged'' and called for an independent investigation.
''After having the courage to blow the whistle on a member of Parliament who was also a parliamentary secretary for the police, my client was threatened by the police with charges of perverting the course of justice,'' he said. ''She was devastated by the fact that going public to report on a politician who was prepared to swear a false statutory declaration and lie to save his driver's licence led her to face the threat of criminal charges''.
Mr Spagnolo said that ''the message from the police is, put in a politician linked to the police by his office for falsifying documents and we will charge you.''
A police spokesman said Ms Palmer was offered a formal interview under caution ''but this was declined''…..
2 comments:
A total disgrace, Barry O'Farrell should be ashamed, lets hope this never dies until justice is achieved!
As long as we do nothing we can expect to be treated accordindingly.
Too many people are too lazy to stand up.
It is not until they are affected that they do something about the cause. This leads to the devide and concour theory.
So we get the government we desereve.
Post a Comment