Nixon accused of disloyality

'Top cop has abandonned Halloran'
by Jamie Duncan
February 24, 2005
From: AAP
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12359205-2,00.html

VICTORIAN Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon has been accused of abandoning former top detective Peter Halloran.
Victoria's top cop had deserted the decorated senior detective, now languishing in a squalid west African jail after a "corrupt" trial, Police Association secretary Paul Mullett said.
Halloran, 56, a former head of Victoria's homicide squad and a former investigator with the National Crime Authority, was this week convicted in a Sierra Leone court of the indecent assault of a 13-year-old girl.
He faces 18 months in the notorious maximum security Pademba Road jail in the capital, Freetown.
Halloran went to Sierra Leone in January last year to serve with a UN-backed task force investigating war crimes committed during the country's 1991-2002 civil war.
He was acquitted of three other more serious charges and has protested his innocence, describing the country's justice system as corrupt.
Senior Sergeant Mullett said today: "How she (Nixon) can come to the conclusion that he is a convicted child molester or pedophile from only reading newspaper articles is extraordinary."
Halloran, Mr Mullett said, was cleared in two independent investigations - one conducted by the war crimes taskforce and the other by a human rights group - before his trial.
"Why didn't the chief commissioner refer to those in her public comments?" he asked.
"Even appealing a conviction stays that conviction, so how she can make broad public comment is concerning.
"Our members are angry at her comments and a substantial number of retired members are equally as angry.
"The message to the Chief Commissioner is think before you speak.
"For the Chief Commissioner to convict him publicly in the manner that she did is very disconcerting."
Yesterday, Ms Nixon said she would review Halloran's case but he might not be allowed to return to his old job even if his appeal was successful.
"We would look to acquaint ourselves with the broader facts of the case to see any material that was offered during the prosecution, and defence material and that would be normal process," Ms Nixon said.
"That's what we do with any officer that is acquitted - we take time to look at the material and determine whether we would take any action against them or, in fact, bring them back into the organisation."
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has said he had concerns about the handling of the case.
Halloran, who was last night shifted from his cell to a prison hospital bed, will be visited by an Australian consular official tonight (AEDT).
He has lodged an appeal and a bail application following his conviction in Sierra Leone's High Court for the indecent assault of the girl, a maid in the house he shared with three others.
The bail application could be heard as early as Friday, Sierra Leone time.
A foreign affairs spokesman said the British vice-consul, acting on Australia's behalf in Sierra Leone, informed the Federal Government yesterday of Halloran's move from the jail to the prison hospital.
It was not known whether Halloran was transferred to the hospital for medical treatment or for another reason, he said.
An Australian consular official would arrive from the Australian High Commission in Ghana tonight (AEDT) to speak with Halloran, the spokesman said.
"Halloran's lawyer has lodged an appeal and an application for bail pending the appeal, which could be heard as early as Friday but may go over the weekend," he said.
The British vice-consul had supplied Halloran with food, water, books and personal necessities, he said.