Lawyers for a detective charged with sharing a photograph and information about former AFL coach Dani Laidley argue he has no case to answer and say the allegations against him are more ethical than legal.
Detective Leading Senior Constable Murray Gentner is one of three officers charged after photos of Ms Laidley taken after her arrest for stalking in May 2020 entered the public domain. One photo showed Ms Laidley in a wig and make-up being interviewed by two officers and the other was a mugshot.
Detective Leading Senior Constable Murray Gentner in 2019.Credit:Joe Armao
Detective Leading Senior Constable Gentner, 43, has pleaded not guilty to misconduct in public office, accessing a police database without reasonable excuse and four charges of disclosing police information without reasonable excuse.
He told investigators he shared the mugshot with other officers in a social WhatsApp group, but did not take or leak the original photo and instead found it online. He said he shared a screenshot of the mugshot to alert his friends that the image had gone viral.
The detective is also accused of describing Ms Laidley as a “tranny” and an ice user after her arrest for stalking. He told investigators he regretted using the language. During a record of interview, he apologised to Ms Laidley.
Defence counsel Christopher Carr, SC, for the accused man, told Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday the evidence against his client could not be considered a breach of the officer’s duties.
Dani Laidley (centre) at a North Melbourne function last year.Credit:Wayne Taylor
Mr Carr said Detective Leading Senior Constable Gentner shared the mugshot in a private forum, and his written comments only contained information that was already known publicly.
He said while the detective’s remarks could be considered offensive or “wildly inappropriate”, the language was not an element of the charge.
Mr Carr said the allegations against his client were more a question of ethics than criminal liability.
“It would be an extraordinary thing were it to fall to a court to convict a person for a supposed failure, to behave ethically … not in accordance with some legal rule, but to behave ethically,” the barrister told magistrate Samantha Poulter in his submissions.
“It would be the most extraordinary overreach.”
Detective Leading Senior Constable Gentner told his record of interview he looked at Ms Laidley’s case on a police database but did so to assist his work, as there was an investigation against her at the time.
The contested hearing has heard another officer, Senior Constable Shane Reid, took the photo of Ms Laidley being interviewed by the officers, and that the image also appeared in the WhatsApp group.
But Detective Leading Senior Constable Gentner told investigators in the days after the incident that it was not known who or how the interview photo was leaked to the public, or who took or leaked the mugshot.
Senior Constable Reid and Constable David Hall are also charged and will face contested hearings this year.
Prosecutor Neill Hutton will address Ms Poulter on Monday. The magistrate will deliver her verdict at a later date.
Ms Laidley was ultimately charged with stalking and later put on a good behaviour bond without conviction. She is suing Victoria Police over the saga.
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