After acknowledging that he lied, a correctional services officer who deceived the NSW corruption watchdog on the beating of an inmate may have to spend time in jail.
In February 2014, Brian McMurtrie testified before the Independent Commission Against Corruption on an assault that had occurred at Lithgow Correctional Centre involving Terrence Walker, another prison officer.
He was accused of wrongdoing and of lying twice regarding his involvement in the assault cover-up, as part of a pattern that the ICAC said indicated systemic problems with misreporting and corruption.
The ICAC also discovered that three additional policemen, Simon Graf, Elliott Duncan, and Stephen Taylor, had taken part in the cover-up.
Graf pleaded guilty to two counts of providing false or misleading information to ICAC, and on Thursday, he was found guilty but not punished further. Graf and his spouse were seated in the public gallery at Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court.
Judge Craig Everson, however, stated that McMurtrie’s actions called for a suitable punishment, such as incarceration.
He claimed that the case called for a punishment that demonstrated that while providing testimony, “truth must be paramount” to the public.
Judge Everson continued, saying that lying before an ICAC-style public inquiry was a “matter that strikes squarely at the heart of our system of justice”.
He stated that while he would wait for more submissions, he was inclined to impose an intensive correctional order, or supervised conditional release in the community.
Serving correctional officials showed up in force to support McMurtrie and Graf, and they enthusiastically applauded when they left the courtroom.
McMurtrie is still out on bail pending his sentencing in March.
