Forgery nets former cop home detention
A police officer has been sentenced to five months home detention after being found guilty of attempting to defeat the course of justice and forgery.
Melissa Mae Ruru, 36, was sentenced at Rotorua District Court on Tuesday after being found guilty of the charges in the wake of a two-week trial in August 2020, which also heard evidence from actor Temuera Morrison. Her co-accused, former Olympic boxing hopeful Tyson Sykes, 33, was also sentenced to three months after being found guilty of one charge of attempting to defeat the course of justice.
Ruru was found guilty after submitting false records in relation to the community work sentence of Sykes.
She was also found guilty of forging Sykes’ signature on a New Zealand Olympic Games Team athlete agreement acceptance form.
The charges stemmed from 2016 and 2017 when Ruru was acting as Sykes’ manager and as sponsor for community work sentences he received for driving offences.
Crown prosecutor Hayley Sheridan told the court Ruru was in a position of trust and that the offending ‘‘enabled the full effect of that sentence to be avoided’’.
‘‘The sentence has been undermined in a significant way . . . the damage to the justice system is stark when we have a person who was a police officer at the relevant time playing a role,’’ she said.
‘‘That trusted position as a police officer allowed her to offend in this way.’’
Ruru’s lawyer Bill Lawson said that while a breach of trust had taken place, it was ‘‘unfair to look only at the failures’’. He said that significant community work had taken place, and that Ruru had already suffered the loss of her job and was finding difficulty in securing new employment.
‘‘This conviction itself has been huge in terms of a penalty for her,’’ he said.
Sykes’ lawyer Tim Braithwaite told the court that it could be as little as two hours of community work that had failed to be completed, and that ‘‘the change in Mr Sykes’ character has been significant . . . he’s a completely different man from when this all started’’.
‘‘Although this ended badly it started with the best of intentions.’’
Judge Philip Cooper accepted it was impossible to know precisely how much community work was completed, but that the offending has caused harm to the justice system. He said that while the pair did not start ‘‘with any intention to game the system, as things turned out that’s what happened . . . the integrity of the sentence has been undermined’’.
Sheridan said during the trial that social media messages between the pair, when compared to details on community work documents, revealed ‘‘numerous occasions when Ms Ruru and Mr Sykes were clearly not together, yes Ms Ruru has signed him off’’.
‘‘Forms were submitted where Ms Ruru signed off hours as if she had supervised them, when she hadn’t. Also forms were submitted which specify certain hours of community work which the Crown says were not done at all. These forms were submitted and the intention was for Mr Sykes to escape the full impact of his sentence.’’
Sheridan said the messages also included ‘‘jokes about community work, including that it’s too easy’’.
One message exchange, which related to the Olympic forms, saw Ruru tell Sykes ‘‘if anyone rings, you just signed this form in front of me’’.
‘‘OK mate I trust you,’’ Sykes replied. ‘‘The messages make it very clear it was Ms Ruru who signed that form,’’ Sheridan said,
One exchange saw Ruru message Sykes to say ‘‘I’m just going to sign them for you if that’s OK’’.
Sykes replied ‘‘Sign away’’. Another exchange saw Ruru tell Sykes ‘‘I would sign the form for you but I forgot what your signature looks like LOL.’’ Lawson argued at trial that the messages were taken out of context, and that in fact Ruru was using humour to motivate Sykes to stay on track with his community work.
Lawson also questioned Detective Sergeant Darryl Brazier, the officer in charge of the investigation and the man who, back in 2018, arrested Ruru. He asked why certain leads were not pursued by police during their investigation, particularly relating to social media messages referencing Sykes’ doing gardening work at her rental property. He also asked why Brazier did not investigate social media references that Sykes had community work hours signed off for helping Ruru move house.
‘‘This investigation from the outset was nothing like a normal police investigation,’’ Brazier said.
‘‘The person we were investigating was a serving member of the police. It was dealt with by people outside Rotorua, a covert operation for obvious reasons so no inquiries were made with any witnesses associated with her in any way because it would not remain a covert investigation.’’
Asked why those inquiries were not made after Ruru’s arrest, he said ‘‘in my opinion there was ample evidence to charge Ms Ruru’’.
Morrison, famed for his role as ‘Jake the Muss’ in also gave defence evidence at the trial. He said he used Sykes’ boxing gym because ‘‘when you’ve got a face like mine I’m always the bad guy ... physical roles so I need to be quite fit’’.
Morrison referenced his most famous character when he revealed he began training at Sykes’ for his role as ‘Jake the Muss.’
‘‘I had to become this brute,’’ he said. Under questioning from both Sheridan and Lawson, he described Ruru as ‘‘a real role model, not like us Hollywood people’’.
‘‘To me she lived and breathed the law,’’ he said.
In the wake of the sentencing police issued a statement to from Bay of Plenty District Commander Superintendent Andy McGregor.
‘‘The public rightly expects high standards from police staff,’’ he said. ‘‘We set high professional standards for ourselves and demand integrity in terms of judgment, choices and actions. The vast majority of our staff act in accordance with police’s values.
‘‘When an officer’s conduct is not in line with police’s values we will not hesitate to investigate and deal with the matter appropriately.’’