DECISION TO SEAL WHISTLEBLOWER’S FILES AGAINST TOP COP TO BE RELEASED
THE decision leading to a whistleblower’s testimony to be sealed and protected during the rape trial of a top Territory cop will be released, 19 months after his not guilty verdict.
Former NT Police assistant commissioner Peter Bravos was found not guilty of raping a fellow officer after a boozy work function 16 years earlier, in 2004.
Following a 2½ -week Supreme Court trial, Mr Bravos was acquitted of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent on August 14, 2020.
In a closed court hearing on Thursday, Justice Stephen Southwood confirmed he would release the reasons for a decision he made in the lead-up to the highprofile trial.
On June 6, 2020, Justice Southwood ordered documents detailing the allegations years before should be released only to the defence and prosecution legal teams.
This included the disclosure documents, 2015 and 2016 file notes to the
Public Interest Disclosure commissioner, a 2016 letter to the Commissioner of Police and a selection of a 2016 affidavit dealing with “who went to PID”.
He ordered that the documents could only be used for the trial, with the documents and affidavit to be placed in a sealed envelope on the file.
On Thursday, Justice Southwood said a redacted copy of his reasons for that decision would be released.
In the 67 seconds the court was open to the public, he explained the hearing was to determine if the evidence presented complied with the ICAC Act and various provisions of the Territory’s evidence Acts.
“For the time being I am going to close the court again, but in due course an appropriately redacted judgment will be published,” Justice Southwood said.
Mr Bravos’s barrister, John Lawrence, Director of Public Prosecutions crown prosecutor Tami Grealy and the Independent Commission Against Corruption general counsel Naomi Loudon were present for the hearing.