source : the age
A police officer who tried to falsely prosecute an innocent Victorian man must perform community service after a judge found the conduct threatened to erode the public’s trust in the justice system.
Thomas Horsburgh, 35, filed a brief of evidence he knew to be false while he was working as a senior constable out of Drouin police station in 2020.
In sentencing Horsburgh, County Court judge Stewart Bayles noted police held considerable power over the community.
“[This] is inherently serious offending. It strikes at the heart of the criminal justice system,” Bayles said.
The court heard Horsburgh and his colleague Nathan Evans attempted to pull over motorist Daniel Bush about 3.30 in the morning of June 28, 2020 for a traffic intercept just outside the Longwarry Caltex service station.
When Bush drove off, Horsburgh and his colleague filed false statements claiming one of the officers had been partially hanging out of the car when the driver fled the scene.
Footage from the service station showed this never occurred.
Bush later said he believed he was being carjacked when the police car pulled alongside him, and he fled in fear, careering into a ditch nearby.
The officers later compiled statements to say Evans had his arm inside the vehicle and was trying to remove the keys while yelling directions at the driver when Bush “booted it”, putting Evans’ life at risk and nearly running him down.
But CCTV from the service station showed this was false.
After the driver eluded the police, the officers went inside the service station to ask for the footage.
“I just did not quite get the door open. He did not know we were there,” Evans said to his colleague on the CCTV captured inside the Caltex.
“You did get the door open. He knew we were there. [He] said ‘f— that, I’m going’,” Horsburgh replied.
Bush left his car bogged in the drain and hitchhiked home. When he returned the next day with help to retrieve his car, it was gone, and he called police to ask if they knew where it was.
The next day, June 29, the two officers arrested Bush at his home and later charged him with recklessly exposing an emergency service worker to harm.
The prosecution said Horsburgh had arrested the man under false pretences and later witnessed Evans providing a false statement.
In it, Evans had written: “[I was] looking square at the driver. Reaching in with my left hand I was intending to remove the keys, jumping backwards to avoid being hit. It was in this moment I feared for my life. The driver had tried to run me over.”
Horsburgh then submitted the brief of evidence he knew to be false, attempting to pervert the course of justice, the judge said.
Once the matter reached court, the CCTV surfaced following repeated requests from the driver’s legal team, and the more serious charges of recklessly exposing an emergency services worker to harm were withdrawn. In late 2021, Bush was then prosecuted for hitchhiking home and he pleaded guilty.
Following reporting in this masthead in 2023, the matter was referred to professional standards command and both Evans and Horsburgh were charged.
Horsburgh pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice and misconduct in public office, which carry maximum penalties of 25 and 10 years in jail respectively.
His colleague Evans pleaded not guilty, took the case to trial and was found not guilty by a jury.
Bush sued Victoria Police and later received a confidential payout.
The prosecution argued Horsburgh should be jailed and noted that abuse of power carried serious social consequence and risked eroding the morale of honest police officers while also encouraging other officers to turn a blind eye.
Horsburgh’s defence team said the 35-year-old had a previously unblemished record, joining Victoria Police at 22 with the view of serving in the force for his entire working life.
His defence team said he had been exposed to traumatic incident in his workplace, which he told a psychologist had a dominant masculine culture where revealing mental health problems was seen as a sign of weakness.
Lawyer Jeremy King, who represented the victim during the civil court process, said it was not easy to get police to prosecute themselves.
“Trying to get that organisation to properly investigate and then criminally charge one of their own is incredibly difficult. Securing a conviction against a police officer really only happens in the gravest of circumstances,” he said.
“If [the victim] didn’t have a lawyer, he’d probably be in jail.
“You’re prosecuting people [police] who understand the justice system on a completely different level than the ordinary person. They know the ins and out of it.
“It has to be pretty grave and pretty brazen for them to get caught.”
Horsburgh was placed on a two-year community corrections order with 150 hours of community service. He must also undergo treatment for alcohol and mental health issues.
Were it not for his pleas of guilty, the judge said he would have sentenced the former police officer to six years in jail.
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