Consul to visit jailed policeman
By Jamie Duncan and Kate Lahey
February 22, 2005
From: AAP
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12336460-2,00.html
AN Australian consul will travel to Sierra Leone this week to meet an Australian police officer convicted and jailed for 18 months for indecently assaulting a girl.
Superintendent Peter Halloran, 56, a former head of Victoria's homicide squad and investigator with the former National Crime Authority, was today convicted in a Sierra Leone court of the indecent assault of a 13-year-old girl.
Australian High Commissioner Jon (Jon) Richardson, who is based in Ghana but accredited to Sierra Leone, said he was hopeful the consul would be able to meet Halloran in person over coming days to discuss his plans for appeal and application for bail.
"The British (officials in Sierra Leone) have indicated that they would be getting access to him soon," Mr Richardson told AAP.
"As I understand it he is appealing and seeking bail at the same time."
Halloran went to Sierra Leone in January last year to serve with the UN as part of an international task force investigating war crimes committed during the country's 1991-2002 civil war.
Halloran was charged last August with unlawful carnal knowledge, procuring a girl under the age of 14 and indecent assault.
He was acquitted last month on the first two charges and was cleared of conspiracy yesterday.
The case centred on allegations Halloran had sex with a girl who worked as a maid in the house he shared with Tasmanian police officer Mandy Cordwell, fellow Victorian officer Sharon Holt and a Canadian man.
Halloran, who is on leave without pay from Victoria Police, has maintained his innocence.
His trial was based on allegations made by Ms Cordwell. An investigation by the UN-backed war crimes court found no evidence to support her claims.
Mr Richardson said he was waiting for a full written verdict from the court and would then discuss it with the Australian government.
"It's a fairly overloaded legal system in terms of a lot of cases being on," Mr Richardson said.
He said his office had been in regular contact with Mr Halloran in the months leading up to his conviction.
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said the Australian government would investigate concerns about the court case.
"Elements of the proceedings have led independent observers to question whether due process has been fully observed," the spokesman said.
"We will be reviewing those questions and related issues in light of the court's latest finding."
Sierra Leone Attorney-General Frederick Carew said the verdict was reached by an independent judge based on legal argument.
"Both parties have argued on points of law and fact and the judge has come to his independent conclusion on the matter," he told ABC Radio.
Victoria Police Association secretary Senior Sergeant Paul Mullett has called on the British government to use Halloran's trial as a case study for a review of Sierra Leone's legal system, following a $23 million funding boost to the nation's judicial system.
Mr Richardson said the British were already taking a high level of interest in the case, and had been working actively in Sierra Leone.
He said the British government was aware the Halloran case, "being a fairly prominent one", would reflect internationally on their involvement in Sierra Leone.