Labor

CONTEMPTIBLE: DPP silent about Fairfax’s tsunami against Theo but cries foul when he protests his innocence

The Victorian taxpayers pay the Director of its Office of Public Prosecutions over $6000 per week to assist the “fair and effective operation of the Victorian criminal justice system” by “offering a high quality independent prosecution service.”

The OPP’s website proclaims its vision is to “make a difference in the justice system and the wider community.”

Making a difference. How very social workerish.Mmm. We’d really just rather they’d keep the streets safe by helping send villains in jail.

Instead, increasingly we see its Director – and this phenomenon is worse in other states – playing politics and playing games.

His past antics have prompted the Chief Justice of the state’s Supreme Court to publicly rebuke the current Director Jeremy Rapke for having inappropriate private conversations with judges in an attempt to influence their decisions and behaviour. Chief Justice Warren condemned him for risking the independence and impartiality of the criminal justice system.

That’s polite talk for being stunned that he would try to nobble judges with private conversations.

Another shameful example of the DPP acting like he’s a US style District Attorney running for election and desperate to get high-profile scalps regardless of the truth played itself out yesterday when he launched an attack on MP Theo Theophanous for daring to publicly deny the charge made against him by a forty-five year old woman from Greece.

When the accuser paid out on Theo in The Age in the most outrageous and vile way last year, complete with references to body odour and other unpleasantries, the Police and Office of Public Prosecutions were silent.

When the Victoria Police – in what many see as a cruel, brutal and despicable act of intimidation and thuggery – after an eighteen month long investigation into a complaint made related to an alleged incident ten years – charged the parliamentarian on Christmas Eve, the office of Public Prosecutions was silent.

When that occasionally irritating blowhard Neil Mitchell who works for Fairfax’s Evil and Shrinking Empire that now includes 3AW attacked the accused “for a form of jury tampering” yesterday (for daring to publicly deny the charges made against him). The DPP said nothing about that very serious and highly irresponsible claim. He wouldn’t dare mess with a shock-jock for fear of being perpetually slagged. Mitchell thought it terrible Theo was putting up a public defence. He was silent about his colleague Derryn Hinch who was recently falsely accused of rape and also maintained his innocence, loudly, on his own radio show on that same station that employs Mitchell.

But when the accused put forward not much more than a denial and a series of statements complaining about the predicament he is in, that prompts the well-paid DPP to investigate whether the accused had committed a contempt of court.

Again, this is clearly designed to intimidate the parliamentarian into silence.

Silence about a case that already has many in Melbourne shaking their heads in doubt. A case we don’t yet know much about but many suspect it will boil down to a question of whether we believe the accused’s story or the accuser. A case that should cause a shiver to run down the spine of every man, especially those in positions of prominence. Every relationship in their past, even from ten years, sexual or otherwise, could be a time-bomb.

Some say – no doubt his lawyers say – the parliamentarian should be silent to remove the chance of him saying the wrong thing.

We say he’s entitled to put his side of the story, inside and outside court. Particularly when the accuser has so much to say, in the most colourful and odious terms, cloaked as she is by anonymity.

Only two people can be certain of the truth in this case.

But there’s another truth too. The truth contained in the free and frank discussion of what goes on in our community and in our legal system. And that’s worth fighting for.

And if this case goes horribly wrong for the Police and DPP, it might well also be worth fighting for people with sounder judgment in these important offices of public trust.

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