RAT IN THE RANKS
Geelong policeman accused of helping bikie enforcer
A GEELONG policeman is accused of conspiring to shield Rebels bikie gang enforcer John Donnelly from police attention and convince colleagues to drop charges against him.
Craig McDonald, 47, appeared in Geelong Magistrates’ Court yesterday, charged with two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice and two of misconduct in public office.
Seven police officers took the witness stand in the committal hearing, scheduled to end today.
A GEELONG policeman is accused of conspiring to shield Rebels bikie gang enforcer John Donnelly from police attention and convince colleagues to drop charges against him.
Craig McDonald, 47, appeared in Geelong Magistrates’ Court yesterday, charged with two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice and two of misconduct in public office.
Seven police officers took the witness stand in the committal hearing, scheduled to end today.
Magistrate Clive Alsop suppressed the names of those officers from the media after hearing police allegations that the Rebels had intimidated and threatened witnesses in one of Donnelly’s previous court cases.
Mr McDonald was suspended from his role as a senior constable and longstanding Geelong traffic cop in May last year following an investigation by Professional Standards Command. He is not presently being paid.
The charges against him arose from separate incidents in August 2014, both involving Donnelly, who has a committal hearing of his own scheduled to end in the Magistrates’ Court next month.
The first incident happened on August 8, 2014, when Donnelly, wearing his Rebels patch, was pulled over on his Harley-Davidson by one of Mr McDonald’s colleagues.
The second incident took place in North Geelong a fortnight later. On that occasion Donnelly and another man were pulled over by Mr McDonald and a junior officer near the North Geelong train station following a thwarted burglary on a building site in the same suburb.
The court was played a triple-0 call made about 12.30am on August 23, 2014 and recordings of police radio communications involving a string of police officers who tried to catch the burglars.
The officers were searching for a white Holden Rodeo with tandem trailer, and although that was the vehicle Mr McDonald pulled over the drivers were not immediately arrested.
Another officer who arrived at the scene shortly after Mr McDonald said the senior constable returned from the window of the vehicle and said “This isn’t the ute we’re looking for. I know them.”
While other officers later reported they believed Mr McDonald had reported over the radio it was the wrong vehicle, the officer said it was he who had made that recorded comment. The court heard more senior officers arrived at the scene shortly afterwards, immediately determined they had the right vehicle and ensured Donnelly and the alleged driver were charged.
The court heard that despite later being found guilty of charges from that night, the pair eventually got off after an appeal, when police witnesses failed to testify.
An officer involved in that case told the court the collapse of the case “frustrated” police, and reports witnesses and their families were threatened prompted him to contact PSC.
“Addresses were being found out, witnesses were being threatened, and I wanted it looked at,” he said.
He said his concerns about Mr McDonald’s conduct on August 23 intensified when he heard colleagues discussing Donnelly’s arrest 15 days earlier, on August 8. The bikie was charged with speeding, running a yellow light and failing to have an interlock device on his vehicle, as his licence demanded, that day.
The arresting officer told court he remembered the bikie making a phone call after being intercepted. Shortly afterwards he said Mr McDonald contacted him, said he knew Donnelly and “inferred” the charges could be withdrawn.
“I didn’t say Craig tried to influence me, I said he asked if ‘I could do anything with it’,” the officer said.
In a written statement he said: “He (Mr McDonald) was asking me to let Donnelly off with a warning or write the whole thing off.”
Bothered by the phone call, the officer said he reported it to a superior, and later requested that he not be rostered on with Mr McDonald. Despite that concern, he admitted he did not take any notes about the phone conversation.
Nor did he on the second time Mr McDonald allegedly called him about Donnelly’s charges. On that occasions it’s alleged Mr McDonald told the officer “I thought the (Donnelly) matter wasn’t proceeding”.
“I told Craig I wasn’t going to lose my job for anyone, not for a Rebel bikie or similar,” the officer said in his second written statement.
The officer was pressed by defence lawyer Geoffrey Steward about why his second statement contained more specific detail than the first, and also about why he only reported the matter verbally to his sergeant, and did not make a more formal complaint about Mr McDonald’s conduct. The committal hearing continues.