Crown prosecutor calls Pilcher ‘ accomplished liar’ ACCUSED DENIES STORY ‘ MADE UP’
POLICE have charged more than 20 people and seized cash, drug crops and utensils as part of a trafficking operation.
Ingham detectives and the Northern Major and Organised Crime Squad, MOCS, yesterday closed an operation targeting the suspected trafficking of illicit drugs.
Operation Oscar Aurum began in October last year and identified a number of people allegedly involved in a drug syndicate operating in Ingham.
On Monday and yesterday, officers from the Ingham Criminal Investigation Branch, Northern MOCS, the Townsville Tactical Crime Squad and the State Intelligence Group finalised the operation, which saw 23 people charged with 80 drug- related offences.
Drugs with a street value of more than $ 150,000 were seized, including ice, cannabis and steroids. All those charged will appear in Ingham Magistrates Court in the next month.
Detective Acting Inspector Jason Shepherd said the operation was a good result for the Ingham community.
“I would like to thank the assistance provided by the community to the QPS throughout this investigation,” Acting Inspector Shepherd said.
“This result is a testament to the collaboration between police and the community.” WORKERS should be allowed to take sick days without giving a reason, with employers ordered to get innovative with how they combat mental health problems among staff.
Workplaces have been called on to do more for their staff’s mental wellbeing by businesswoman Lucy Brogden, who will be named today as the new National Mental Health Commissioner by federal Health Minister Greg Hunt.
“I’d like people to be able to take sick leave without having to say why. The old food poisoning, migraine ( reason) – that’s often covering up for a mental health day,” she said. DANE Andrew Pilcher has denied in court that he “dreamt up” a story about being stabbed first by alleged murder victim Corinne Henderson.
Crown prosecutor Michael Cowen QC cross- examined Pilcher, 38, on the sixth day of his Supreme Court trial yesterday, suggesting he was an “extremely accomplished liar”.
The Townsville man has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his ex- partner Ms Henderson in her Idalia unit about 11pm on September 26, 2015.
Pilcher has told the court he saw a Facebook photo of Ms Henderson with a man she was rumoured to be seeing, Dwayne Wickham, before he caught a taxi to her apartment.
Pilcher said he broke through the kitchen window of the third- floor unit. He said Ms Henderson stabbed him in the arm and then they grappled over the kitchen knife.
He said he had a laceration on his arm from going through the window and one requiring sutures from the stab wound.
During questioning from Mr Cowen, Pilcher agreed that he did not mention his stab wound to an ambulance officer, two doctors and a surgeon.
Mr Cowen said the first time Pilcher mentioned he had been stabbed was on October 6, while was having a dressing changed.
“That is because you’d had time to think about your story by then, wasn’t it?” he said.
Pilcher replied: “No, that’s incorrect sir.”
Mr Cowen asked if Pilcher, who was trained in first aid in the army and had worked on mine sites, u n d e r s t o o d the need to describe the “mechanism of injury”.
“I did, I told the ambulance officers that I had been through a glass window, I’d sustained injury through going through a glass window, which I had,” Pilcher replied. “At that point, my injuries weren’t my priority. Corinne was lying deceased on the bedroom floor.”
Mr Cowen suggested Ms Henderson had never stabbed Pilcher. “This is a story you have dreamt up subsequently, relying upon your skills as an accomplished liar,” he said.
Pilcher replied: “That’s incorrect sir.”
Mr Cowen asked whether Pilcher had feared for his life. “I feared being stabbed again. I was trying to stop myself from being stabbed again,” he said.
“As I said, it all happened in a matter of seconds. There wasn’t time to consider it or make decisions. I just reacted to being stabbed.”
Pilcher has told the court he separated from his ex- wife Katherine Pilcher when she discovered his affair with Ms Henderson.
Mr Cowen asked whether Pilcher had kept things secret from Ms Henderson and Ms Pilcher, becoming an “extremely accomplished liar”.
“I’m not sure if I would use that term sir, but there were lies told, yes,” Pilcher replied.
The defence case closed when Mr Cowen finished his cross- examination yesterday.
The trial is scheduled to continue with closing addresses this morning.