Australia: An honest cop gets a wrongly accused man out of jail

What a refreshingly different story. Not all police are scum

A MAN who spent almost a year in jail after being wrongly accused of the bashing murder of a security guard has praised the detective who worked to prosecute, and later exonerate him. Peter Samuel Smith, 42, and Det Sen-Sgt Ron Iddles shook hands yesterday as they walked from the Melbourne Coroner's Court together after an inquest into the savage bashing death of Slawomir Tomczyk. The court was adjourned briefly yesterday after the hard-nosed homicide detective broke down while giving evidence about the miscarriage of justice.

Mr Smith spent 11 months in custody after being charged with the murder of Mr Tomczyk, 44, who was attacked outside a Cranbourne reception centre on February 21, 2002. It was only after a magistrate ordered Mr Smith to stand trial that Det Sen-Sgt Iddles acted on his concerns over key eyewitness evidence against the accused man.

Det Sen-Sgt Iddles yesterday choked back tears as he described the doubts he felt after Mr Smith's preliminary hearing in April 2003. The court heard the detective formed the view that a witness -- a used car salesman who gave evidence that he overhead Mr Smith describe beating a security guard to death with a metal bar -- had been mistaken. Det Sen-Sgt Iddles said while he believed the used car salesman did overhear a conversation between three men who were unaware of his presence, he wrongly identified Mr Smith as one of them. The court heard Mr Smith had innocently visited the used car sales yard during that period to test-drive a vehicle.

Yesterday the court heard police now suspected another man of murdering the unarmed security guard. Det Sen-Sgt Iddles read to the court a statement by a witness who implicated another man in the crime. The witness, now dead, said in his statement the man revealed key details of the murder to him, including how the dead man's credit card was disposed of.

Outside court the detective, who has investigated more than 200 murders over 17 years, said he'd always had "gut" doubts over Mr Smith's guilt, but said the evidence had pointed towards him. 'Your personal view can't come into it," Det Sen-Sgt Iddles said. "There was sufficient evidence to charge him. "You have to be impartial as an investigator. You can't get emotionally involved." But after the detective's further investigations cast more doubt over the used car salesman's evidence, he approached the Director of Public Prosecutions, who then withdrew the charges.

"Police have an enormous duty to get it right if you're going to take someone's liberty away from them," Det Sen-Sgt Iddles said. "I know I've acted with integrity. There is nothing I would have done differently." Outside court Mr Smith praised the detective who had originally worked to prosecute him, saying "he was just doing his job".

"I've been no angel either," Mr Smith said. "I have a fairly extensive criminal record but I've got a hell of a lot of respect for Ron. "He's done more than he could possibly do." Mr Smith said he was "a bit bitter" over being wrongly accused and jailed. "But I'm pretty happy to be standing here today. Hopefully they will find out who did it," he said. "I wouldn't mind getting a look at him. He's obviously walking around laughing at me."

Det Sen-Sgt Iddles said that while many people wrongly believed the crime had been solved, "the real killer is still out there". "I'll keep working on it," he said. Coroner Peter White will hand down his findings on a date to be set.

Report here



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