An apology which was long overdue.......
Even if this apology was hidden away on Page 41 of a 48-page issue of The Daily Examiner on 31 May 2014.
Page One of The Daily Examiner on 15 May 2014:
THE family at
the centre of the infamous so-called Yamba riot will be forced to publicly
apologise to the NSW Police Force after a claim for damages backfired and
exposed a sinister plot to damage the reputation of local officers.
Craigh
McNeill, his wife Maxine and their two children Dylan and Codie will foot their
own legal costs and take out two newspaper advertisements to say sorry to
officers who were pelted with bricks the night a squad car was torched at a
teenage party.
The McNeills
had claimed police were trespassing the night hell broke loose at the Yamba
Industrial Estate and that several of those arrested were victims of police
brutality and reputational damage.
But just days
into what was expected to be a lengthy trial, an embarrassing stint in the
witness box left Mr McNeill and his family with little choice but to withdraw.
Coffs/Clarence
Superintendent Mark Holahan said yesterday police had, from the beginning,
agreed that they would "fight the case to the end" and despite years
of setbacks, justice had finally prevailed.
"Let the
games begin".
With those
words, Craigh McNeill launched an attack on police which would have
ramifications for years to come.
The arrest of
the Yamba father, his son Dylan and several of his children's teenage friends
on Valentine's Day, 2010 made headlines and shocked the local community but it
would be another four years before the real court battle began.
Following a
decision in the local court, all those arrested were acquitted and Mr McNeill
and his family hatched a plan to sue the NSW Police Force for damages.
But when
their day in court finally came, things didn't go to plan.
Mr McNeill
had claimed that he had tried to extinguish the fire with a bucket of water but
a video played in court showed that the contents of the bucket appeared to have
caused the fire to flare, not go out.
He said he
had tried to calm the revellers down and stop them from being destructive but
the court heard that out of the 107 people who gave statements to police after
the party, not one could recall Mr McNeill asking them to stop what they were
doing.
In the
statement of claim, Dylan alleged police had told him he was "going to be
raped" at Grafton Jail.
In the early
stages of his evidence, Mr McNeill denied having any conversation with his
former co-accused about his plan to sue the police.
A recording
played in court revealed Codie's boyfriend Robert "Robdug" Harvey can
be heard saying to another "Craigh says, 'Just pretend you got raped ...
you'll get an extra 100 grand on there'."
Asked why he
would have given that advice, Mr McNeill replied he had only said it "as a
joke".
The case was
suddenly adjourned on Monday for legal argument and on Tuesday morning the
McNeills confirmed they would not be pursuing the case……
Background
