NSW Police Rapped For ‘Undermining’ Work Of Sydney Gay Hate Inquiry 

NSW Police has been accused of “undermining” the work of the special commission inquiring into anti-LGBTQI hate crimes, by not producing documents relating to the unsolved deaths on time. 

The commission, headed by Supreme Court Justice John Sackar is looking into the unsolved deaths of gay men and trans women in Sydney and NSW between 1970 and 2010. The commission is scheduled to complete its public hearings in a few weeks, with the final report due on August 30, 2023. 

The NSW police’s tendency to belatedly produce materials in relation to unsolved cases invited criticism from the commission. 

This week hearings into the unsolved deaths of three men – former AC/DC manager Crispin Dye (1993), GPO employee Robert Malcolm (1992) and retired school teacher William Allen (1988) – were postponed after police produced documents just days before the hearing. 

Justice Sackar pulled up the police and said that the belated production of crucial documents had the effect of “undermining the nature and work” of the inquiry. 

‘There Is Something Wrong’

Senior counsel assisting Peter Gray told the commission on Thursday that the late production of documents had become an ongoing issue with the NSW Police. 

“The haphazard production of the material called for in these various summonses, which has become a recurring feature in the last 13 months, does not permit the Inquiry to have confidence that all available material in relation to the cases under consideration by the Inquiry has been produced, even now,” said senior counsel Gray. 

The senior counsel expressed concern that Strike Force Parabell, which had reviewed the 88 unsolved cases, had not seen some of the documents, which were now produced before the commission for the first time.

In Crispin Dye’s case, the commission was told that crucial evidence had turned up in the case – Dye’s blood-stained jeans and a denim shirt which were never sent for forensic testing in the past three decades. 

The inquiry was told on Tuesday the DNA obtained from the blood stain matched a profile obtained from another crime scene.  

“There is something seriously wrong with the way that cases and exhibits are managed by the NSW Police Force and by the Unsolved Homicide Team within the NSW Police Force,” Gray said. 

‘Intolerable And Unprofessional’

The senior counsel pointed to the trauma inflicted on the family and friends of the victims.  “The emotional impact of preparing for a long-awaited hearing into your loved one’s death and then being told that a last-minute production of new material means that it cannot go ahead cannot be measured,”  said senior counsel Gray. 

NSW Police’s counsel Mathew Short said that the Commissioner of Police acknowledged the significance of the issues raised by Gray and would like to be heard after an affidavit was filed by officers leading the searches into the documents. 

Justice Sackar remarked that for the commission to once again raise the issue of police delaying documents was “extraordinary”. 

“It is intolerable and it is unprofessional,” said the judge. “For me to be told by a letter, as belatedly as the last day or two, about the number of possible repositories where documents might exist is chilling…  why couldn’t all of those repositories have been determined in April, May, June or July of last year? Is it a lack of imagination? Was it a lack of curiosity or is it just plain ineptitude?”

“How can any member of the public in New South Wales be confident that unsolved homicides can be looked at, if needs be, if you have no idea where the documents might be in relation to each and every case?” the judge added.