REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Saturday, April 22, 1989

A MERMAID Waters man acquitted of armed robbery condemned the police’s handling of the case, which saw him spend four months in Boggo Road Jail.

Roy Quirk-Meeks also slammed the conditions at the Brisbane Watchhouse, where he was kept for 10 days after being charged in August 1988.

The then 51-year-old restaurant owner said his wife and daughter had not been allowed to visit him there and he had been unable to shave, brush his teeth or change his clothes during his stay.

His nine-month hell ended when the Brisbane Supreme Court acquitted him.

He was originally charged with taking part in the theft of $500,000 during an armed robbery at Upper Coomera on July 27, 1987.

He spent time in Boggo Road before being released on bail in December 1988.

Another man was convicted of the crime, and at the time of publication, was in jail pending an appeal.

He was also a work friend of Mr Quirk-Meeks.

Mr Quirk-Meeks said the only evidence against him was being identified on a video – 13 months after the robbery, by the two robbery victims.

“The incredible thing is that in the evidence given by the complainant on the day they went to the police, one described the other man, supposedly me, as about five foot, four inches with a Canadian accent,” he said. Mr Quirk-Meeks was much taller and had an English accent.

“On arriving at Boggo Road it was like moving into a fivestar hotel compared to the Watchhouse,” he said.