Australia: More on the Roseanne Catt case

A disgrace to the NSW police

The NSW woman unjustly imprisoned for 10 years has slammed the case against her as a “disgrace”, on the day she finally won $2.3 million in damages for wrongful prosecution.

Roseanne Beckett today was awarded the compensation after she spent a decade behind bars for a slew of charges, including soliciting the murder of her ex-husband, Barry Catt.

“It’s a disgrace that it has gone on as long as it has, and cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars,” Ms Beckett said after the payout was announced.

Justice Ian Harrison found the late detective Sergeant Peter Thomas, who led the charge against Ms Beckett, had perverted the course of justice and acted maliciously.  “[Mr Thomas] utilised the legal system in a war that did not secure justice, but perverted it,” he said.

It comes more than a decade after Ms Beckett was released from jail in 2001, having served the majority of her 12-year sentence.

Ms Beckett's conviction for her ex-husband’s murder and other offences were quashed in 2005.

All the heartache seems to have stemmed from one incident - a blaze at her Taree delicatessen on Christmas Day, 1983.

"Ms Beckett would appear at all times up until the fire ... to have been an ordinary citizen going about her business in an unremarkable way," Justice Harrison said.

"From 25 December that year, however, things changed dramatically and for the worse."  Det. Sgt Thomas investigated the fire and accused Ms Beckett of arson - a charge that was later dropped.

Meanwhile, Det. Sgt Thomas found himself facing a number of complaints from Ms Beckett, who claimed he made suggestive remarks to her and was inebriated at the time of the blaze.

"This was the cauldron out of which the later monumental events would develop," Justice Harrison said.

As the internal investigation into Det. Sgt Thomas continued, Ms Beckett married local panel beater Barry Catt in 1987 - who had a history of mental illness.

A year later the pair separated, with Ms Beckett taking an AVO out on him.

On August 24, 1989, at 7.30am, Ms Beckett was in her night attire when police came to her house, handcuffed her and began a search.

A pistol was found in the ensuite and the next day Ms Beckett was charged with several offences against Mr Catt, including two counts of solicit to murder.

Ms Beckett has always claimed the gun was planted.

Pointing at one of the solicit to murder charges, Justice Harrison found the "so-called evidence" against Ms Beckett was "woefully inadequate".

"It would surprise me to the point of astonishment if Detective Thomas had ever been presented with a more absurd complaint in the whole of his policing career," Justice Harrison said.

Other charges laid against her were clearly an "act of vengeance" on Det. Sgt Thomas's behalf, he found.

Original report here


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