Fed: Ex-cops plead guilty to violent armed robbery

AAP General News (Australia)
04-03-2007
Fed: Ex-cops plead guilty to violent armed robbery

By Jade Bilowol

BRISBANE, April 3 AAP - A violent armed robbery committed by two former NSW police
anti-theft squad members marked a "tragic fall from grace", a court has been told.

Former NSW police officers Wayne Alfred Duckworth, 47, of the Gold Coast, and Brett
Terence Gale, 44, of Sandgate in Brisbane's north, today pleaded guilty in the Brisbane
District Court to one count each of robbery in company with personal violence.

Prosecutor Julie Aylward said Duckworth had moved up the ranks to become a detective
during his 17 years with the NSW police before leaving in 1999.

"He had tried to become an inspector," Ms Aylward said.

Gale was an officer for six years until 1990.

Ironically, both men had worked in the state's anti-theft squad.

"This is a tragic fall from grace for two men who have gone from investigating crime
to being the criminals in a very serious crime," Ms Aylward said.

In the early hours of November 5 last year, balaclava-clad Gale and Duckworth, wielding
a bike pump and metal bar respectively, robbed the Park Ridge Tavern, south of Brisbane,
of more than $63,000.

Ms Aylward told the court Gale forced a female employee to the ground and held the
metal bar to her head, while Duckworth taped another's hands together.

Both women attended court today.

Ms Aylward said a male tavern employee, whose hands were also bound, allegedly plotted
the robbery with Gale, who then recruited Duckworth.

The employee allegedly turned off an illuminated XXXX beer sign outside the tavern
to signal to the pair that the alarm had been switched off and security guards had left,
she said.

Ms Aylward said "a number of aggravating features", including the premeditated nature
of the crime, warranted sentences of four to six years each for Duckworth and Gale.

However, defence lawyers said the two men were experiencing financial difficulties
at the time and had used the controversial sleeping aid Stilnox.

Barrister Stephen Zillman, who represented Gale, a married man with two school-aged
children, said his client had been suffering a "major depressive disorder, pathological
grief disorder, and substance abuse".

"My client's judgment was reasonably affected by a mixture of illnesses and substances,"

he told the court.

"(He was taking) Stilnox, which I'm sure your honour has seen in recent times has been
taken off the pharmaceuticals list ... (due to) certain behaviours to various people taking
that medication."

The court also heard Duckworth, also married and with two children from a previous
relationship, had suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and gambled away tens of thousands
of dollars.

Judge Kerry O'Brien remanded the pair in custody until sentencing on April 11.

AAP jvb/pjo/jl/de

KEYWORD: DUCKWORTH

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