A NSW Police officer from Sydney’s eastern suburbs has been arrested and charged with stalking and sexually assaulting two young women.
The Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command formed “Strike Force Mattm” to investigate allegations two 26-year-old women were subjected to stalking, sexual assault and domestic violence-related offences.
Following an investigation, a 31-year-old constable was arrested on Tuesday and charged with seven offences: sexual intercourse without consent (two counts), stalk intend to cause fear (three counts), assault occasioning actual bodily harm, access restricted data held in computer, holder of public office misconduct himself, and maliciously damage property.
He was attached to the Central Metropolitan Region command, which basically covers all of metro Sydney.
Police allege the officer assaulted one of the 26-year-old women and caused her actual bodily harm. They also allege he used police computers to access info he wasn’t authorised to.
Police put an application in for an apprehended violence order (AVO) to protect one of his alleged victims, which will be heard in court when he appears today.
The officer has been stood down from his duties but hasn’t been fired — his employment status is still under review. It’s unclear whether he is still being paid.
He is due to face Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday morning.
This case is one of a slew of assault allegations against Australian police officers.
In April this year, a NSW Police senior constable was charged with sexual offences in the workplace, including five counts of sexual touching and three counts of common assault. Another was charged with sending indecent material to a child. Both officers are due to face court next week, and the latter was suspended *with* pay while awaiting his verdict.
Last August, two NSW Police officers from Sydney also admitted to misconduct after approaching at least five women for sex while on duty using fake names. The 30 and 31-year-old officers were initially also facing serious charges of attempted aggravated sexual assault after they met up with a 17-year-old schoolgirl.
The same month, a former police officer from Melbourne was charged with almost 100 offences, including allegations he raped a woman *at a police station* and had an intimate relationship with a victim of crime.
In April 2020, an ex-police officer from Western Australia was charged with 108 sexual offences, including 66 counts of rape.
And those are just the more high-profile cases.
Needless to say, the entire institution has a domestic violence and sex abuse problem and needs to be abolished.
Help is available.
If you require immediate assistance, please call 000.
If you’d like to speak to someone about sexual violence, please call the 1800 Respect hotline on 1800 737 732 or chat online.
Under 25? You can reach Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or chat online.
