DV victim floored by ‘insulting’ police compo offer

A GOLD Coast mum forced to move home after her address was leaked to her abusive expartner by a Queensland police officer says she is “insulted” by a compensation offer presented by the state.

The woman, who cannot be identified, was horrified to learn her address had been accessed on the official Queensland Police Service computer database and later forwarded to her ex in 2015.

The officer responsible, Neil Punchard, has since been handed a suspended jail sentence after facing criminal charges. He has appealed against the decision, and has been suspended from work while the appeal process is carried out.

The woman said she and her family had been subjected to “four years of hell” as they sought compensation from the QPS.

In December, the QPS issued an extraordinary media statement saying that after several rounds of hearings and appeals in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, there would be no further appeals and the woman would be paid compensation “as soon as possible”.

However, more than a month later, the woman said she was disgusted to receive an offer of $70,985 – less than a quarter of the $335,000 being sought.

“They have insulted us,” said the woman, who has already provided evidence to a Crime and Corruption Commission probe into data breaches of sensitive and confidential information.

“The offer is less than what the officer involved has earned while he has been sitting on full pay waiting for his appeal.”

Use of the database has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years with an officer fined $4000 after looking up the details of netball star Laura Geitz while a former bikini model had her records accessed by officers more than 1400 times.