Murder theory fails, Silk-Miller jury told
December 6 2002
By Peter Gregory
Chief Court Reporter
A man accused of murdering two police officers would be acquitted even if a
jury accepted the best prosecution theory about their deaths, the
Silk-Miller trial heard yesterday.
Defence barrister Chris Dane, QC, said Bandali Michael Debs, 49, maintained
his defence that he was not present when policemen Gary Silk and Rodney
Miller were shot.
Mr Dane, who represents Mr Debs, said there was no doubt the jury was
dealing with an appalling crime.
"We are dealing with the cold-blooded murder of two police officers on duty
in the prime of their life," he said.
But Mr Dane said the prosecution's "best new theory" had Mr Debs acting in
self-defence when shooting Senior Constable Miller. Evidence in support of
the theory suggested Sergeant Silk was dead when Mr Debs allegedly shot him
as he lay on the ground, he said.
Mr Dane said the prosecution hypothesis had Mr Debs' co-accused, Jason
Joseph Roberts, 22, earlier shooting Sergeant Silk in the chest while
acting on a frolic of his own.
Mr Debs, of Narre Warren and Mr Roberts, of Cranbourne, have pleaded not
guilty to murdering Sergeant Silk and Senior Constable Miller, who were
shot at Cochranes Road, Moorabbin, early on August 16, 1998.
The prosecution has said the officers were murdered while part of a team
investigating 10 armed robberies committed by Mr Debs and Mr Roberts. In
the trial before Justice Philip Cummins, the accused have also denied
involvement in the robberies.
Mr Dane said the hypothesis had Mr Debs and Mr Roberts being pulled over in
their vehicle after leaving the car park of the nearby Silky Emperor
restaurant, which they had planned to rob.
He said Mr Debs, under the theory, did not have his gun when Sergeant Silk
initially asked him to leave the vehicle. Mr Debs allegedly retrieved the
revolver and fired only after Mr Roberts was said to have shot Sergeant
Silk in the chest.
Mr Debs allegedly shot Senior Constable Miller after he had opened fire. Mr
Debs' hypothetical response took place while he was defending himself, or
Mr Roberts, his future son-in-law, Mr Dane said.
He said a pathologist's evidence showed that Sergeant Silk would have been
dead when Mr Debs was said to have fired two shots into his body.
Mr Dane said the 10 armed robberies - investigated under a police operation
known as Hamada - netted $31,382. He said none of the crimes had anything
about them that identified Mr Debs. No DNA was found and no proof
established about the use of cars in the robberies.
Later yesterday, Mr Dane said transcripts of secretly recorded
conversations involving Mr Debs were made after the murders during the
largest media campaign since the Lindy Chamberlain case.
Part of the recordings showed Mr Debs making threats about police, but
investigators assessed them as the rantings of a man who disliked police,
he said. Mr Dane asked the jurors to regard them as the talk of a silly man.
He said almost all of the recordings had difficulties that made them unfair
to be used. He said they deflected the jury's attention from the fact that
the prosecution had no idea about what really happened at Cochranes Road.
The trial continues.
http://theage.com.au/articles/2002/12/05/1038950148206.html
The rantings of police who didn't like me have just been supplied under
FOI.These are the state police files and 3 pages are censored,3-withheld.
Odd that. I am appealing.Oh...and I'm asking for the rest.
