POLICE ‘RAT’: I’M NOT GUILTY
COP TO FIGHT CORRUPTION CHARGES
GEELONG traffic cop Craig McDonald will fight the corruption charges laid against him by internal police investigators over favours he allegedly did for a bikie enforcer.
Mr McDonald, 47, was yesterday committed to stand trial on two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice and two of misconduct in public office after a two-day hearing in Geelong Magistrates’ Court.
The prosecution alleges Mr McDonald twice phoned a colleague who arrested John Donnelly — then the sergeant at arms for Geelong’s Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang — and tried to get charges withdrawn.
The court was told Donnelly worked as a concreter for Mr McDonald, and the pair were friendly, sometimes referring to each other as “brother”.
The first of the phone calls to land Mr McDonald in trouble was made August 8, 2014, shortly after Donnelly’s arrest on road charges, the sec- ond straight after the bikie got his summons.
In a separate incident a fortnight later, the prosecution alleges Mr McDonald momentarily tried to convince colleagues they had pulled over the wrong people in North Geelong on suspicion of burglary. One of those suspects was Donnelly, who was later charged.
The officer Mr McDonald phoned is a key witness in the case, and cannot be named for legal reasons.
He said the calls raised “alarm bells” for him, prompting him to report the matter and request he not be rostered alongside Senior Constable McDonald thereafter.
But defence lawyer Geoffrey Steward described the serving officer as unreliable and untruthful, questioning why, if he thought Mr McDonald’s conduct was so improper, he never took notes.
He also pointed to subsequent banter between Mr McDonald and his accuser via text message, and the superior officer’s evidence as proof the witness had not orig- inally been so concerned.
Mr Steward argued the charges against his client were “meritless, baseless and have no justification in law”, and should be thrown out.
He said there was “palpable inconsistency and bias toward McDonald on the part of the Crown”, describing the investigation by the Professional Standards Command unit as “shoddy and presumptuous”.
He said Donnelly’s connections to the Rebels were irrelevant to the charges against Mr McDonald, and none of the witnesses called were able to precisely recall what the defendant allegedly said to them.
Prosecutor Campbell Thomson agreed the quotes alleged would be important at trial.
“This is a case about words, but it’s about words in their context, and the intended thrust of those words,” he said.
Mr Thomson argued there was enough evidence Mr McDonald abused his power.
Mr McDonald will appear in the County Court on January 23 for a directions hearing ahead of his trial.