Judge, union in stoush

A JUDGE’S threat to charge a police officer with contempt has sparked a bitter war of words between the Queensland Police Union and a Southport magistrate.

Magistrate Gary Finger yesterday threatened to charge Gold Coast Child Protection and Investigation Unit Detective Senior Constable Francesco Distefano with contempt of court after he failed to provide evidence that had been called for in a child sex abuse case.

Det Snr Const Distefano, who was acting as a witness in a committal hearing, told the Southport Magistrates Court his workload had been so “exhausting” he had been unable to get crucial evidence from three alleged victims of child sexual abuse, despite being ordered to by the court in August.

The hearing was yesterday adjourned to January 22 and Det Snr Const Distefano was given an ultimatum.

“If you don’t have material back before the court I will charge you with contempt,” Mr Finger said.

“It hasn’t been done in four months and we should not be at the whim of Snr Const Distefano.”

The case in question involves a 20-year-old man who has been charged with three counts each of rape and indecent treatment of a child under 16 and one count of using the internet to procure children under 16. The charges relate to incidents which police alleged to have occurred with four different girls between October 2015 and December last year.

Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers returned fire to the court threat, saying the union would defend Det Snr Const Distefano if charges were laid.

“It is absurd that judges are now threatening police with criminal charges because those police have immensely heavy workloads,” Mr Leavers said.

“If any police officer was charged by a judge simply because an officer has a large caseload, it would be a Queensland first.”

Mr Leavers said child abuse investigations were “extremely technical” and police officers often had many cases to manage at the same time.

He said this meant finalising a matter for court could take months.

“In matters involving children, an alleged victim can be at actual risk at the precise time a complaint is made, which means other workload issues such as preparing briefs for court on other files have to wait while police drop everything to protect a particular child,” Mr Leavers said.

A Queensland Police spokesman said they were aware of the issue.

“Police have been made aware of the issue arising from today’s proceedings and are reviewing the circumstances that led to the matter being only part heard and now adjourned until January,” he said.