Australia: Mickelbergs finally get a compensation payment

Peter and Ray Mickelberg say their $1 million compensation payout for being framed for the Perth Mint swindle is not enough to cover their losses. The Carpenter Government yesterday awarded $1 million in compensation - the largest payment in the state's history - to the two brothers, who were wrongly jailed for almost a decade after they were framed by police for the notorious 1982 Perth Mint swindle. Attorney-General Jim McGinty said police actions were "a perversion of the system of justice of the worst kind" and no amount of money would make up for what happened.

But the payout was criticised by Peter Mickelberg, 50, and his brother Ray, 62, as insufficient to cover the debts they accumulated during a decades-long fight to clear their names. Ray Mickelberg told The Australian they owed at least $1.2million. He said the ex gratia payments of $500,000 each were effectively gone without even acknowledging millions of dollars in lost assets, ruined careers and pain and suffering that resulted from the fit-up. He was furious also that no compensation was offered to the children of a third brother, Brian, who has since died, but was also wrongly convicted and jailed for nine months. Peter Mickelberg spent more than eight years in jail and Ray more than six.

Their convictions were quashed in 2004, 15 years after they were released, after detective Tony Lewandowski, who has since killed himself, admitted police fabricated evidence. Another corrupt officer exposed by Lewandowski, Don Hancock, was killed in a car bomb attack carried out by a bikie gang member in 2001.

Despite the brothers' anger yesterday, Mr McGinty said the payments brought to an end the State's involvement, following $658,672 they received to cover the costs of two appeals.

The Mickelberg brothers were convicted of defrauding the mint of $653,000 in gold bullion by issuing worthless cheques. After his arrest, Peter was stripped, beaten and forced to sign a false statement by the two corrupt officers. The pair failed in a series of appeals over decades because police continued to provide false evidence.

The extraordinary case even involved more than 58kg of bullion being dumped at the Seven Network's Perth studios in 1989, shortly after Peter's release, in an apparent attempt to implicate him. It was later shown to be South African gold that was not related to the case.

Ray Mickelberg said he and Peter were forced to agree to the $1 million payout after Mr McGinty told them to take it or leave it. "In the end, we had no choice," he said. The pair criticised the decision to have taxpayers foot the bill. They said the money should have been seized from the superannuation funds of the corrupt officers.

Angry WA Police Union president Mike Dean has labelled as "incompetent and irresponsible" the record $1 million payout to Peter and Ray Mickelberg announced yesterday. The state police union was also on the warpath after Mr McGinty confirmed the brothers were free to continue civil claims against police allegedly involved in their case. The Government initially tried to force the brothers to drop civil action against the seven former officers in return for the ex-gratia payments but failed. The civil action was initiated 18 months ago, and includes claims against the estates of the two dead officers, Lewandowski and Hancock. The terms of the $1 million ex-gratia compensation payout for wrongful conviction and jailing over the infamous 1982 Perth Mint Swindle does not prevent the brothers from taking further civil action against former police officers. They include former assistant commissioner and current Labor MP Bob Kucera.

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Big payoff for the appearance of regret

MARINKO Curkovic "felt as if he had killed his own child" after running over three-year-old Jessica De Andrade in his garbage truck. But as the truck driver was handed a nine-month suspended jail term yesterday, the girl's father said he could never know the agony her family suffered. "Today Marinko Curkovic will be with his family, while Jessica will not,'' grieving father Rui De Andrade said. "He has had his licence cancelled for two years; my daughter had her life cancelled forever. "He claims to be suffering emotionally from the ordeal. He has no idea what pain and suffering is, and the sentence my family's left with.''

Jessica was thrown from her mother's arms and killed after they were hit by the truck on a pedestrian crossing at Alexandria last July. The lights were green for both traffic and pedestrians, but Curkovic failed to keep a proper lookout. The father-of-three pleaded guilty to negligent driving causing death.

Mr De Andrade and his wife, Somsri Phongsuphawech - who is still on crutches after receiving serious injuries in the accident - cradled a photograph of Jessica as Curkovic, 43, was sentenced in Downing Centre Local Court.

Defence barrister William Barber argued the accident site, at the intersection of Botany Rd and McEvoy St, was a notorious black spot. He said RTA records showed there had been another fatality at the intersection, plus 55 accidents in which people were hurt between 2002 and 2006. But Chief Magistrate Graeme Henson said Curkovic turned onto Botany Rd "without regard for public safety''.

Jessica's parents wiped away tears as Mr Henson spoke of the "catastrophic'' effects of her death, saying: ``In modern society we are conditioned to believe that the natural order of life means that children do not pass from this earth before their parents.''

But he also observed that Curkovic and his family had been "severely traumatised'' by the tragedy. Psychological reports revealed Curkovic now suffered from anxiety and depression, with "intensive feelings of guilt that he, as a father, has caused a child to lose her life and a mother to lose her daughter''. "He felt as if he had killed his own child,'' they said. Mr Henson took the driver's mental state into account during sentencing.

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