Former ABC presenter Emma Alberici has told an inquiry a police detective was hung out to dry after appearing on Lateline to speak about a high-profile investigation, despite her superior being aware she would be on the show.
Alberici broadcast an interview in April 2015 with Pamela Young, who was then a detective in charge of the investigation into Scott Johnson, a 27-year-old PhD student who fell to his death from a cliff in Manly in 1988.
Emma Alberici pictured last week at the LGBTIQ hate crime inquiry; (inset) Scott Johnson.
Police believed for years that Johnson’s death near a gay beat could have been suicide, but his family insisted it was not. His killer was jailed for nine years for manslaughter earlier this year.
Alberici on Tuesday said the Johnson family had criticised police, and she agreed to speak to Young on Lateline to balance media reporting of the case.
“My absolute recollection was that the senior people in police thought it was about time ... the scales were rebalanced so it didn’t look like the police had been doing the wrong thing for 30 years or whatever,” Alberici told the Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ Hate Crimes.
“The family had been criticising police for 30 years, so I don’t think it was outside the realms of possibility that police might fire back to some extent.”
Then detective chief inspector Pamela Young during the ABC Lateline interview in April 2015.Credit: ABC
During the interview, Young said Johnson’s brother had used his influence to make the investigation a priority over other jobs. She also accused the police minister of “kowtowing” to the family by asking for a fresh investigation in 2013, despite evidence pointing to suicide.
Her comments were criticised as “inopportune” and she left the police force in 2015.
Former NSW Police deputy commissioner Mick Willing, who was then the commander of the homicide squad, previously told the inquiry he was unaware Young would take part in a studio interview.
He said he expected Young to give background comments and make brief remarks outside the Coroners Court, and was “shocked” and “angry” when he heard Young’s comments on air.
Mick Willing gives evidence at the inquiry in February.Credit: Peter Rae
Alberici said Willing “obviously” knew about the studio interview in advance because the journalist had discussed it with him. She agreed with a suggestion that Willing had hung Young “out to dry”.
Willing’s barrister Murugan Thangaraj, SC, said it was a “complete lie” that his client said “anything about him knowing in advance of the studio interview”.
“That sounds like a statement to me, but it’s not one I agree with,” Alberici said.
She said Willing “probably didn’t know” that Young would criticise the police minister, but he would have known Young intended to criticise the Johnson family on air.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, Detective Sergeant Penelope Brown said she had been in the car with Young in April 2015 on the way to the ABC studios when her colleague had a phone call with Willing and put it on speakerphone.
She said Willing “knew Pamela Young was going to Lateline that day to give an interview” because Young told him.
According to Brown’s notes from the time, Young said in the call that if she was asked, she would say the minister of police had kowtowed to the request of the Johnson family.
Brown said she thought the comment was controversial, which is why she wrote it down in her duty book. She said Young would never do anything that was unauthorised.
Counsel assisting Peter Gray, SC, said Willing’s legal team had suggested Young devised a covert plan to appear on Lateline. They also claimed Brown was part of the conspiracy, and that the pair were “guilty of extraordinary concealment, deception and misconduct”.
Brown shook her head when the words were read out. “It’s not true at all,” she said.
The inquiry continues.
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