World news – African Union – Silk Miller’s conviction overturned and retrial ordered

One of the two men convicted of the Silk Miller murder has been retried after the Court of Appeal found his murder conviction, the two Victorian police officers were unhealthy

Jason Roberts, along with Pandali Debs, was serving a life sentence for the murder of Sergeant Gary Silk and First Police Officer Rodney Miller, who were ambushed and killed on patrol in Morabine in 1998

On Tuesday morning, the appeals court overturned Mr. Roberts’ murder conviction and ordered a retrial

Mr Roberts, who says he is innocent and Debs acted alone, has obtained an appeal under new Victorian laws that allow for a second appeal when there is new and convincing evidence.

The focal point of disagreement is whether Chief Officer Miller spoke of one or more gunmen while he was dying at the scene.

The new and convincing evidence was the discovery that a witness statement from a police officer was initially reviewed, issued retrospectively, and presented as original in the first trial. It was sufficient for the appeals court to find a serious error in the application of justice as Mr. Roberts did not receive a fair trial.

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Mr. Roberts, 40, was 17 at the time of the murders and had spent two decades in custody since he and Debs were arrested in July 2000

Mr. Roberts will remain in custody, but attorney Peter Matthews has reported the bail request in the coming days.

Mr. Matthews told the court: « Mr. Roberts will file a request for his release on bail, and we expect that in the next few days, and certainly in the near future »

In a statement, Mr. Roberts’ lawyer, Simon Moody, said his client welcomed the court’s decision and « looks forward to a fair trial. »

Mr. Modi said, « Given that there will be a retrial, he is not making any further comment at this time. »

Families of Sgt. Silk and First Police Officer Miller said the decision to allow a retrial struck the original jury the first time

“This was not the decision we had hoped to hear, 22 years after Gary Rod’s murder,” reads the statement sent by the Police Association

The families said they were sad to the police, who led the investigation into the murders as part of Lorimer’s task force, saying that investigators had dedicated their lives to ensuring that the dead officers had access to justice.

“The original jury understood the matter the first time, as did the appeals court, then the Supreme Court when previous appeals were filed by Mr. Roberts, and we can only hope that a new jury will do so again,” he said

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“What cannot be changed is that two Victorian police officers – Gary Silk and Rod Miller – sons, brothers and father of a seven-week-old son, were brutally murdered on August 16, 1998  »

Attorney General Jill Hennessy told 3AW Radio that the appeals court decision was « a very significant event in judicial and policing history here in Victoria »

Mr. Roberts, whose first appeal to the court was dismissed in 2005, filed three petitions for mercy to the Prosecutor between 2016 and 2019

The third petition of mercy, filed in November of last year, used new evidence uncovered in an investigation by the broad-based independent anti-corruption commission

Mrs. Hennessy changed laws that month, allowing a second appeal directly to the appeals court if there was new evidence and transferring the decision on the Roberts case from her office to the courts

The IBAC investigation uncovered allegations by some police officers who were the first to arrive at the scene and assured the dying Miller of their testimony retroactively reviewing and amending their testimonies and presenting false or misleading evidence to court

Appeals Court justices Terry Forrest, Robert Osborne, and Leslie Taylor found that failure to disclose a key statement influenced the trial in favor of the prosecution on the crucial case of whether there was more than one criminal

Police misconduct in their failure to disclose all evidence resulted in Mr. Roberts not receiving a fair trial, preventing him from exploring the prosecution’s evidence of the announcement of Chief Officer Miller’s death

“It follows that we are convinced that there has been a major error in the application of justice,” stated in the verdict.

The judges rejected Mr. Roberts’ patent application, arguing that the public interest lay in a retrial and a jury ruling of guilt.

IBAC concluded that former officer Glenn Pauline, who was one of the first policemen on the site, made two statements but the origin was not revealed in the 2002 trial

His second statement included more of the words Chief Officer Miller had said about dying, that is, « they were on foot, » indicating that there were many offenders.

Evidence prior to IBAC proving that the statement was likely provided 10 months after the murders, but that it looked retrospectively as if it was only hours later

The appeals court heard that it had raised questions about the fairness of the trial and serious issues regarding the credibility of the evidence for what Chief Officer Miller had already said

Mr. Roberts’ attorney, Peter Matthews, told the appeal hearing in June that there had been « deliberate tampering with evidence of the central issue in the trial, which is the number of criminals » and the behavior of some policemen « to the point of committing a criminal offense, perjury. »

He said that there was « apparent involvement of other officers » in misconduct, which constitutes a serious miscarriage of justice

Mr. Matthews said: « This type of very hidden and serious misconduct poses a very serious threat to the integrity of the criminal justice system and the work of this court. »

Prosecutor Bin Ehl told the hearing that there is « overwhelming » evidence indicating two killers were unaffected in the years following the trial

Four other officers, who were initially at the scene, heard Chief Officer Miller saying words indicating that there were two perpetrators. The call was on police radio from officers on the scene that night: “Two criminals, there are two on foot.” / p>

Mr. Ihle said there was also forensic evidence showing that two handguns were used to shoot policemen, that Chief Officer Miller fired in two directions, and « convincing » conversations between Debs and Mr. Roberts were seized on listening devices

Mr. Roberts, who was dating Debs’ daughter, admits that he carried out 10 other armed robberies with Debs prior to the Cockrans Road murders, which he contested at trial

At night, Sgt. Silk and Constable Miller were watching the Silky Emperor’s restaurant on nearby Warigall Road The restaurant has been identified as a possible target for another robbery by the same crew

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Adam Cooper joined The Age in 2011 after a decade with AAP Email Adam or tweet your news tips

The murders by Silk Miller Police, Gary Michael Silk, Pandali Debs, Rodney James Miller, Police Officer, Motion Abolition