Jack de Belin attends court appearance of police officer who perjured himself during case
Jack de Belin arrives with supporters for the court appearance of a police officer who pleaded guilty to perjury in his case. (ABC Illawarra: Tallon Smith)
In short:
A court has heard a former police officer was suffering from PTSD when he committed perjury during a hearing prior to NRL player Jack de Belin's sexual assault case.
"Officer A" admitted giving false evidence about accessing privileged text messages between Mr de Belin and his lawyer.
What's next?
Judges Christine Mendes will sentence the former officer on September 12.
A former NSW Police officer who perjured himself in relation to a sexual assault case involving NRL player Jack de Belin and his co-accused Callan Sinclair was suffering from deteriorating mental illness when he gave false evidence, a court has heard.
The officer, who can only be identified as "Officer A" due to a court suppression order, was in court with supporters today alongside Mr de Belin and Mr Sinclair, both of whom were joined by their families.
The officer was involved in the investigation into Mr de Belin and Mr Sinclair when the pair were charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old women in Wollongong in 2018.
According to an agreed statement of facts, Officer A gave false evidence during an application to stay proceedings in February 2020.
The application to halt proceedings was ultimately dismissed and the case went to two separate trials, both ending in hung juries.
The case was then abandoned by prosecutors.
Callan Sinclair was joined by family and supporters at Wollongong Court today for the sentencing hearing. (ABC Illawarra: Penny Burfitt)
Officer A was questioned about accessing and sharing privileged text messages between Mr de Belin and his lawyer Craig Osborne, during a review of the football star's phone in 2019.
In a sworn affidavit, Officer A stated that he believed the messages from "Craig Lawyer" on the phone related to St George Illawarra Dragons business and not to Mr de Belin's legal defence.
He later admitted under cross examination he knew Mr Osborne was Mr de Belin's solicitor in the sexual assault case but maintained they appeared to detail "dragons business".
Officer A has since pleaded guilty to perjuring himself by falsely affirming that the review of text messages "contained information about dragons football club business alone".
In Wollongong District Court today he faced a sentencing hearing.
Judge Christine Mendes will deliver a final sentence on September 12.
'Wilful misleading' vs 'innocent mistake'
Officer A served with NSW Police from May 2002 until his medical retirement in August 2023.
In court today the Crown prosecutor Ciro Triscari said Officer A deliberately mislead the court when he claimed the text messages were about "dragons business".
The prosecutor told the court around 190 messages accessed on the phone contained "privileged communications between Mr de Belin and his lawyer".
"This represents a serious example of perjury when one considers the position occupied by the offender in question," Mr Triscari said.
"The proceedings are serious criminal proceedings where the liberty of individuals were at stake."
Officer A's defence lawyer Peggy Dwyer said the long-serving officer and defence services veteran had been experiencing deteriorating mental health in the lead up to his perjury.
Dr Dwyer provided eight psychologist and psychiatrist reports which she said provided "overwhelming" evidence that Officer A was suffering complex PTSD and depressive illnesses after being exposed to "gruesome and disturbing incidents" in his NSW Police role.
"There can be no doubt he was suffering from PTSD in February and that it impacted his capacity to give evidence," she said.
The prosecution countered that another psychologist, who had assessed Officer A closer to the perjury trial, found his ability to give evidence was not impacted by PTSD.
Dr Dwyer argued the perjury was "an innocent mistake" made "in a moment of panic" which did not impact the eventual trial of Mr de Belin and Mr Sinclair.
"This was not a case where anything [Officer A] did or didn't do changed whether or not they were charged," she said.
The defence called for any custodial sentence potentially required be served in the community under an Intensive Corrective Order, referring to one psychiatrist's report which found a jail term could be 'catastrophic' for the former police officer.
The former detective can only be identified as "Officer A" due to a court suppression order. (ABC Illawarra: Penny Burfitt)
The case will return to Wollongong Court for sentencing in September, after which spokespeople for Mr de Belin and Mr Sinclair are expected to make statements.
Mr de Belin spent three years out of the NRL during the criminal proceedings and will finish with St George Illawarra at the end of 2025 after the club declined to extend his contract.