Chapter 31

The committal

My committal in March 2010 was over before it even began, such was the weakness of the police case against me. For the uninitiated, the committal hearing happens before a trial so that a magistrate can determine whether there is a case to answer. The prosecution’s case fell apart at the slightest testing, which was what I’d been saying all along. Things that are made to sound sinister and suggestive about my case on the front page of a newspaper have never stood up to scrutiny.

On the first day of the committal, my defence team and I made a point of asking for documents we’d requested but still hadn’t been given.

Day after day, Victoria Police hedged and delayed, refusing to give us the documents we wanted – foremost of which were notes and diary entries of the detectives who were dealing with Carl Williams. We wanted a record of what he’d been offered; we were hearing rumours of huge inducements being given to the convicted killer. We already had documents mentioning many visits to Williams in prison and his release for questioning for a week.

Subpoena after subpoena slowly revealed a disturbing story. Some of the notes we received made references to weekly meetings of the Petra Taskforce Steering Committee. What was the Petra Taskforce Steering Committee? Were they looking at the murders of the Hodsons? Or was it simply a ‘get Paul Dale’ committee?

Inspector Steve Smith was at ESD in 2003, on the day when I was arrested over the drug-house burglary. He’d also been at my house during my first arrest for the Hodson murders. I might have worked with him at the Homicide Squad, but I’m not sure. At any rate, I knew him to say hello to.

The next time I saw Smith was at my arrest in Wangaratta. I figured that he must have been part of the taskforce. While Smith’s name was not part of my brief, he had been mentioned by name in one of the subpoenaed documents. Jumping on this single reference, we asked for his diary notes. The court refused. I don’t believe that the prosecution should try to hide anything, and the more they dug their heels in, the more suspicious we got. So we called Smith as a witness.

Cameron Davey and Sol Solomon had both already given evidence, but when we asked them about inducements made to Nicola Gobbo or Carl Williams, they each denied knowledge of any inducements. It was at that stage I knew Davey and Solomon were bunnies. I suspected that they were out of their league. Hence our keenness to get Inspector Smith on the stand.

It took a couple of weeks to get him there, and when he gave evidence, he looked nervous and uncomfortable. His answers were vague.

We asked who was at the Petra Taskforce Steering Committee meetings.

Inspector Smith said the meetings were attended by then Assistant Commissioner Simon Overland, Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius and Smith himself.

My lawyer asked him for his notes from these Petra Taskforce Steering Committee meetings.

Smith said he took no notes.

What about the notes from the other police members present?

Smith said that no-one took notes.

No notes?

If what he said was true, then it would be the first time in the history of Victoria Police that a meeting was held without copious note-taking by everyone involved. I smelt a big, juicy rat.

Three barristers asked about the notes over and over again, asking him the same question in different ways. No, he said over and over again. No notes. No recordings. No nothing.

The very next morning, we arrived at the committal to find a new lawyer there from the Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office representing the Chief Commissioner, Simon Overland. The court opened for business and this new lawyer stood up and announced that she was there on behalf of Inspector Smith and wanted to clarify some things he’d said in the witness box. She explained that when Inspector Smith had answered questions about notes, he was under the impression that he only had to answer questions on notes mentioned on the subpoena.

The magistrate, Peter Reardon, looked up. So there were notes? he said.

Yes, said the lawyer.

The magistrate raised his eyebrows. How many notes?

Thirty thousand pages of notes, said the lawyer.

The magistrate flicked back through his own notes and reminded the lawyer that Smith had testified that there were no notes taken at these meetings – no notes at all. From where I sat, it looked as if the magistrate was fuming. Like everybody else in the room, he could see what had happened.

The magistrate seemed disinclined to give Victoria Police an inch after that. He disallowed the suppression order on the names of Nicola Gobbo and Carl Williams. That was when Nicola started accusing Victoria Police of failing to protect her.

A Victorian government solicitor acting on behalf of the chief commissioner jumped in with a legal argument that hobbled the magistrate’s ruling on identifying Carl Williams. I can’t tell you what the legal argument was because of more secrecy, but in the end it worked. Williams’s identity was protected, but Nicola’s wasn’t.

Afterwards, I made a formal complaint to ESD about Smith’s denial of the existence of 30,000 pages of notes from meetings that he clearly said didn’t exist. ESD found my allegation unsubstantiated.

The magistrate instructed Victoria Police to hand over all the documentation to the court. He’d examine the 30,000 pages and then make the decision as to whether my legal team could have them.

In that case, said their side, we need an adjournment.

The magistrate asked how long they’d need.

Eight months, they replied.

Eight months?

Yes, eight months.

The magistrate agreed and adjourned the trial.