All Fall Down (19 page)

‘The evidence I gave on Thursday was based on my recollection,’ Maynard said by way of correction. He had checked the drug squad files before giving his earlier evidence and couldn’t find anything relating to hallucinogenic drugs. Now he had information about the dealer in Bonaparte’s who had 1000 ‘tabs’ of LSD for sale.

In the end, Walsh was found not guilty on the grounds of ‘unsound mind’. Sturgess had successfully argued that at the time Walsh was suffering ‘pathological intoxication’, brought about by alcohol and triggering a brain disorder. The jury took just minutes to bring down their verdict after the 11-day trial.

Justice Williams ordered that Walsh ‘be kept in strict custody until Her Majesty’s pleasure be known’.

‘Pat Nolan had lined up legal aid [for Walsh],’ says Sturgess. ‘Pappy Walsh wasn’t a wealthy man. He was a solicitor, had a fair sized practice but a whole tribe of kids, educated at Nudgee. There wouldn’t have been much left over. Peter Walsh was entitled to legal aid.’

But that was not the end of the controversy. A month after this curious scenario, Deputy Opposition Leader and Member for Lytton, Tom Burns, unloaded a barrage of accusations in parliament.

Burns labelled Breslin a ‘publicity seeking … homosexual crook’.He cited the
Courier-Mail
column on the Sheraton’s gala opening. ‘To give Breslin some form of credibility in the [Walsh] trial and especially during the period when he was such a vital witness, someone arranged a page-three story in the
Courier-Mail
in which this businessman, who had stayed in hotels around the world and was the Sheraton Hotel’s first guest, was given prominent coverage, quite a convenient way of giving Breslin a more respectable image than he deserves,’ Burns told parliament.

He added: ‘I would like to know whether Breslin, at the time he gave evidence, was on a charge relating to administering a stupefying drug to a minor who was handcuffed and chained to his bed?

‘If that is true, was Breslin, whilst on this charge, reported to have been interviewing young boys and demanding government aid to provide a form of shelter for young people? Is Breslin involved in some way as an officer of the Prisoners Aid Society? Is there disquiet over his role in this society?’

Pointedly, Burns asked: ‘Was Breslin offered any inducement to give evidence for Walsh? Has a person hearing charges against Breslin made some orders restricting publication of court details?’

As for Walsh, he was transferred to a psychiatric hospital in Chermside in the city’s north, where he read a lot of books and played a lot of ping pong. He was granted conditional release early the following year.

In the week Breslin managed to be both a Sydney businessman and a witness in the trial of Peter James Walsh, no mention of any of this was recorded by Commissioner Lewis in his diaries. Lewis, of course, was acquainted with Breslin through the Police Club. In late 1983 he had sent one of his Commissioner’s Christmas cards to Breslin, in the latter’s capacity as president of the South Queensland Prisoners Aid Society.

‘Dear Mr Breslin,’ he handwrote in the card, ‘and members of the Society.’ Then the standard printed greeting – ‘Best wishes for a Happy Christmas and peace and prosperity throughout the coming years’. It was signed ‘Terry Lewis’.

At the time of this controversial trial, Commissioner Lewis had his usual frantic schedule, including attending a local Australian Crime Prevention Council conference on child abuse and the criminal justice system. In fact, he delivered a paper titled – ‘Child abuse – is police involvement necessary?’

Rebel Cop

Detective Ross Dickson continued to make a lot of noise about his transfer. Once he had been labelled the Sheriff of Mareeba. Now they called him the Rebel Cop. He finally moved to Townsville in late July, against his wishes, but still the scandal wouldn’t go away.

On 30 August in parliament, ALP member for Windsor, Pat Comben, continued to stoke the fire. Comben wanted to know if senior police officers had been sent to Mareeba to seek out possible complaints against Detective Dickson and to check his old files for the purpose of bringing departmental charges against him.

Police Minister Bill Glasson called the question ‘astounding’. Glasson alleged Dickson was being used as a puppet by the union in an attempt to appeal against unapplied for transfers. ‘It would be impossible for the Commissioner of Police to control the police force if appeals against unapplied for transfers were allowed,’ Glasson argued.

‘Are you going to charge him [Dickson]?’ Comben pressed.

‘Senior Sergeant Ross Dickson arrived in Townsville on 21 July this year,’ Glasson answered. ‘Therefore, he conformed to the requirements of his transfer, and no charges are pending against him in regard to that transfer.’

Glasson unwittingly misled parliament. There was indeed an investigation underway into Dickson and it involved checking ‘old files’, as Comben had queried. A subsequent nine-page report was produced, titled ‘Complaints Against Sergeant 2/c L.R. Dickson’.

The examples cited went all the way back to 8 April 1968.

1. Complainant: James McKAY, 37 Prospect Road, Gaythorne.

Nature of complaint: Constable DICKSON arrived at the complainant’s residence in a two-tone shirt, shorts and bare feet. He spoke to the 13 year old daughter of the complainant and demanded to know where ‘Glen’ was.

When the daughter said he was not there, DICKSON threatened to use other measures. DICKSON then searched the residence, did not find Glen and went away.

Result: No further action taken.

None of the subsequent dozen or so complaints against Dickson were ever substantiated.

Glasson was also misinformed about charges being laid against Dickson. The
Courier-Mail
reported in an exclusive page-two report on 20 September that Dickson was set to face 83 departmental charges, with others pending. He was to be interviewed by internal investigators.

‘The charges stem mostly from his public criticism of the police force, and his refusal to carry out police orders … he is also in trouble for taking a TV news crew on a drug raid,’ the newspaper said. ‘Det. Sgt Dickson had claimed he was transferred because he wanted to reopen the investigation into the mysterious death of a Mareeba detective six years earlier.’ (This referred to John Connor, a young officer who was found dead of a single gunshot wound to the head in his car near the Mareeba RSL on 15 October 1978. That day, Connor reportedly met up with some colleagues at a hotel and told them excitedly that he was going to make an arrest that would ‘shake Australia’, presumably a figure related to the drug trade. Late that night his body was found, and the death was deemed a suicide.)

‘Det. Sgt Dickson claimed he was being moved because of his activities in trying to break up the drug trade in North Queensland.’

Police Minister Glasson made a ministerial statement that day in parliament. He said he was concerned over the
Courier-Mail
article. ‘The truth of the matter is that Inspector Ryan of Cairns has been investigating the alleged furnishing of false crime statistics for the Mareeba district during the period Detective Dickson was stationed at Mareeba CIB,’ Glasson said. ‘Inspector Ryan’s enquiries have nothing to do with Detective Sergeant Dickson’s criticism of the police force, nothing to do with any reopening of investigations into the death of Detective Senior Constable John Connor six years ago, and nothing to do with his taking a television crew on a drug raid, as has been claimed.

‘It is wrong to say Detective Sergeant Dickson will be departmentally charged, as he has not yet been given the chance to answer the allegations.’

Lewis recalls the Dickson affair: ‘He [Dickson] was topping the state [with his crime clean-up rate] … and then I don’t know how we found out, [but] somebody brought to [our] notice what he was doing,’ says Lewis. ‘So, I sent two blokes up there, two inspectors, and they … found out … he was just furnishing false reports, and the worst … part of it was those people were on police records, they hadn’t done anything, but if it came up in the future, how were they going to disprove it?

‘And then, you know, he said the only reason they got rid of him [was] because he was trying to expose corruption and … that was utter, utter bullshit.’

Fun at Pinky’s

By 1984, Geoff and Julie Crocker had scaled back their escort operations. The police kickbacks were taking their toll on business operations, and after all expenses and bribes, the pair was, at times, only bringing in an income of $1000 a week.

While they still had their escort operation at 27 Sankey Street in Highgate Hill, and another in 81 Sylvan Road, Toowong, their newest operation was proving to be immediately lucrative. Pinky’s was an ‘on premises’ massage parlour located at 625 Main Street, Kangaroo Point, near the corner of Bell Street and a short walk from the Pineapple Hotel.

Pinky’s was a classic Queenslander worker’s cottage, though under the house had been built in with brick. A clutch of palm trees stood in the front yard. The project was Julie’s baby and she immediately took control, painting the exterior bright pink. It couldn’t have failed to attract the attention of commuters on busy Main Street, an East Brisbane artery that fed traffic north across the Story Bridge and straight down into the cesspit of Fortitude Valley.

The owner of another popular Brisbane massage parlour, and friend to Geoff Crocker, was called in to give some advice on fitting out the place. ‘I told Geoff that if I was a customer I wouldn’t want all those bright lights, and they needed to get some plants in there,’ she recalls. ‘My place was doing well because we were offering clients some food and drinks. Pinky’s hadn’t been officially opened but it was open for business, and one of the girls went and got a packet of corn chips and offered the clients a beer. It was very funny. Geoff had a good sense of humour.’

The property was renovated, four spa baths were installed – two small ones upstairs and two large ones down – and it was soon open for official trading. The Crockers threw a party at the brothel to celebrate. ‘It wasn’t actually a party to celebrate the opening of Pinky’s … to us it was … but to the customers it was just a party,’ Crocker later recalled. ‘Julie used to come up with all these weird ideas … let’s have a Whiskers and Warlock night, or let’s have a Halloween night, so one of those sort of things fell into what was commonly known later on as the opening party at Pinky’s.

‘There were quite a few people there … a lot of our personal friends were invited over cause it was just going to be a sociable group and fun night, and if anyone wanted a lady they could do business.’

The opening night party had a ‘gangster’ theme. Some of the girls on shift that night wore 1920s-style outfits. Several police from the Licensing Branch and the Drug Squad attended, leaving their unmarked cars parked in Main Street.

According to prostitute Katherine James, who was working that day, (she was one of ten prostitutes hired to service about 30 guests) – the party went for eight hours. ‘There were different people going to spas and bedrooms together and drinking and eating together,’ she said. ‘All the food and alcohol was supplied and the girls were paid [$300 each] to give sexual favours for the whole night. There were three full-sized spas that eight people could fit into. Many people, including police officers, got their clothes off and got in the spa baths.

‘Gerry Bellino called in for about five minutes … I remember that Geoff Crocker began to take a couple of photographs but he stopped because everyone freaked out. There was not only police there but people pretty high up in real estate, medicine and law.’

The party was a huge success, rivalled only by another Pinky’s sex fiesta on Melbourne Cup Day in early November. ‘Julie arranged for … girls to start at Pinky’s at ten o’clock in the morning on Melbourne Cup Day,’ Crocker remembered. ‘At probably midday Julie rang up [the brothel] and said – did the girls show up? Are they all dressed up nicely for the … party? I’d been and got grog the night before …’

By mid-afternoon the party was raging. According to eyewitnesses, eight Licensing Branch officers were at the party. The prostitutes were wearing lingerie and several had sex with police. There was also a wet T-shirt competition. At one point guests were drinking champagne out of men’s top hats.

Crocker arrived late, knowing the party would still be going, ‘to make sure that I’m still going to earn some money without the party interfering with business’. He observed that ‘the coppers were all pretty pissed, very pissed, some of them’. Crocker was, by nature, cautious of drunken Licensing Branch detectives. ‘When these guys got a bit pissed they didn’t like people like me very much,’ he remembered. ‘When they were sober they were better because they knew they were being looked after …’

The party had been a great success, although several of the officers were too drunk to return their official vehicles back to headquarters. The party would prove a turning point for Katherine James. She said not long after the infamous party, Licensing Branch officer ‘Dirty Harry’ Burgess came into Pinky’s and told Crocker to get rid of her. ‘Harry said to me, “I wield a fucking big sword and if you get in my way I’m going to chop your head right off.” I don’t really know why he took this attitude, except to say that he may have taken exception to me inviting the Woolloongabba CIB [to the party].’