COP BACK IN COURT
RETRIAL: Misconduct charge over bikie burglary case
ACCUSED crooked cop Craig McDonald is set to again face court on a misconduct charge after prosecutors decided to retry the matter yesterday.
Earlier this year, he faced a trial in the Geelong County Court where he was cleared of one charge of misconduct in public office.
But a second charge alleges Mr McDonald attempted to impede a police investigation into a 2014 burglary in North Geelong in which one-time sergeant-at-arms of the Rebels’ Geelong chapter, John Donnelly, was a suspect.
It is understood the retrial may hear evidence from Mr McDonald’s former colleagues.
ACCUSED crooked cop Craig McDonald is set to again face the County Court on a misconduct charge after prosecutors decided to retry the matter yesterday.
Earlier this year the experienced cop faced a trial in the Geelong County Court where he was cleared of one charge of misconduct in public office.
But a second charge alleges Mr McDonald attempted to impede a police investigation into a 2014 burglary in North Geelong in which one-time sergeant-at-arms of the Rebels’ Geelong chapter, John Donnelly, was a suspect.
Mr McDonald’s defence and the prosecution are expected to reconvene on Friday, August 30 in the Melbourne County Court to set a trial date.
Mr McDonald pleaded not guilty earlier this year to the misconduct charge he is set to be retried on. It is understood the retrial, which may hear evidence from Mr McDonald’s former colleagues, could last about five days.
The charge Mr McDonald is facing was laid after he said “all correct” over the police radio on August 23, 2014.
The call came seconds after he pulled over Donnelly and another man, Adam Hanns, in a ute that matched the description of a vehicle reported leaving the North Geelong burglary scene.
At the retrial it will be up to a jury to decide if Mr McDonald’s “all correct” call was intended to let the men leave the scene, and if that amounted to misconduct.
Mr McDonald’s defence has described “all correct” as “palpably ambiguous”.
Mr McDonald had a decade of on-the-beat policing experience when the force’s Professional Standards Command charged him in late 2016 with two counts of misconduct, alleging he’d been favourable to Donnelly.
Before Mr McDonald was suspended in May 2016 he was the face of public awareness campaigns, one targeting hoons and another seeking to stamp out drug-driving.
It is understood any police disciplinary action against Mr McDonald will only be considered after all legal avenues in his case are explored.