02 The SIS and the NZ Police cover-up a case of manslaughter
Perverting the course of justice. 2
Just prior to the 1987 general election I happened to speak to Detective Colin Irvine at a Labour Party election meeting. I asked him if he was tooled up and he said, “discretely” and he then asked me a question about my brother Eric. I don’t remember the question but I do remember replying, “Why what’s he done?” Irvine shook his head and refused to say what Eric had done. My asking about his tool/firearm must have twigged his memory.
Later Eric told me that a bloke had hassled him at a night club in Wellington/Porirua or thereabouts and Eric had pulled out his pistol (he thought he was James Bond) and had frightened the hassler off with it big time. He said, bloody good job that the bloke, in a panicked rush to get away, jumped over a wall, fell several meters and sustained fatal injuries on concrete below. He also said that Irvine was involved in the investigation (cover-up) and that Irvine was a real bastard. I remember seeing an item about the incident on TV (before Eric told me about it) and that the cops were appealing for witnesses.
Eric lost his firearms licence, got the sack from his flash (spy) job at the Security Intelligence Service and got away with manslaughter because the SIS and the cops, including Irvine, engaged in a conspiracy to cover up Eric’s crimes so as to save both organizations the embarrassment of having to admit that SIS had employed a pistol-packin plonker. Makes the pie and the Playboy in the briefcase scandal seem a bit lame. It’s easy to see why Irvine was so relaxed about vilifying my (nobody) name to the Ombudsman and posterity. Eric’s crimes, manslaughter, presenting a firearm, unlawful possession of a loaded and restricted firearm. Bound to be a few more charges that would have been thrown at a non protected joe blogs.
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I made an emailed complaint about the above to the PCA, below is the reply.
Section 18 (1)(a) of the Act states, “The complaint relates to a matter of which the person alleged to be aggrieved has had knowledge for more than 12 months before the complaint was made; or” bla bla bla………
Since when am I the aggrieved person?
All is not lost though, Goddard is sending the complaint on to the Police. YAY!
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Police assault, then death - new claim
March 29, 2008
A high-level police inquiry has started into claims a man was beaten in police custody shortly before being fatally injured when a street-sweeping truck hit him.
The man was being chased by an off-duty police officer when the vehicle struck him. Police have confirmed the case is being reviewed but won’t comment on the Weekend Herald’s understanding that new information includes the claim the man was assaulted in custody.
If this were established, it could result in a charge of manslaughter.
Fork-hoist driver George Tipene Harris was 24 when he died from injuries caused when the truck hit him early on October 3, 2004.
An inquest in 2005 heard conflicting evidence about what happened just before the accident, but nothing in evidence then available suggested Mr Harris had been assaulted.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority (formerly the Police Complaints Authority) made an inquiry in 2004.
Its report has not been made public.
Detective Superintendent Malcolm Burgess yesterday confirmed he was looking into the matter.
“I am reviewing new information and will make a decision about the direction of new inquiries.”
Mr Burgess said the matter was at an early and sensitive stage and he would make no further comment.
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Police pair sentenced to jail over cover-up
August 30, 2008
Benson Murphy (left) and Reuben Harris, pictured yesterday, were allowed to go home because their jail sentence is under appeal.
Two policemen have been sentenced to 15 months in prison for covering up for a constable who beat a relative of theirs in the back of their patrol car.
The victim fled from the alleged assault into the path of an oncoming street-sweeping truck and was killed.
Constables Reuben James Harris and Benson Lyle Murphy had initially protected colleague Constable Clinton Hill, who allegedly assaulted George Tipene Harris while off-duty in the back of their police car. Hill now faces a manslaughter charge.
Reuben Harris and Murphy pleaded guilty this month to conspiring to defeat the course of justice. Another police officer, who allegedly spoke to Hill at the scene, is also charged with conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
Lawyers lodged an appeal immediately after the sentencing yesterday and the two men were granted bail until their next court appearance.
The court heard that following a night drinking on October 3, 2004, Hill arrested George Harris in Manukau after he attempted to grab a phone from his pocket to call a taxi.
Murphy and Reuben Harris stopped in their patrol car and agreed to take Hill and Mr Harris to the station.
Reuben Harris said Murphy got out of the car and Hill asked him to drive down an alleyway and then began assaulting the victim.
George Harris escaped and Hill gave chase. Murphy and Reuben Harris later found Hill kneeling over Mr Harris’s body on Great South Rd. The victim was believed to be a second cousin of Reuben Harris and a distant relative of Murphy.
Murphy said a sergeant who arrived at the scene told him and Harris what to say in their statements to investigators, which involved leaving out the alleged assault.
In March this year, a former officer told police that Murphy had told him before the 2005 inquest that his account to investigators was false.
Police reinterviewed Murphy, who had become a recruit with the Queensland police, and Reuben Harris, who had resigned from the force in December 2006, and the pair admitted making false statements.
About 15 family members were in court to support Murphy and Reuben Harris, who has six children. About three members of George Harris’s immediate family were also in court supporting the accused.
The men have agreed to testify against their former colleagues.
They have met the victim’s family, who have accepted their apology.
Murphy’s lawyer, Todd Simmonds, said the pair were the whistleblowers, not the main offenders.
In his sentencing, Judge Charles Blackie said he accepted that the officers were the “junior partners in this conspiracy” but were not whistleblowers as Murphy had spoken to a former police officer.
“There are two victims here. The victim’s family, and the New Zealand community as a whole who have put such trust in our police officers to uphold the law and do the duty that they swore they would do upon graduating out of police college.”