By JO HARRISON
FORMER police commander David Cushway has refuted media claims that proper procedures had not been observed in the handling of a meeting between Richard Torbay, Phillip Hanna and himself at Armidale Police Station in 2007.
He said the issue had been subject to an internal police investigation which cleared him, and the process he followed at the time, of any wrongdoing.
This was conveyed in a letter to him following the review and his advice to the media to check with the relevant police authorities regarding the incident had not been followed up, he said.
The Armidale Independent has been provided with confirmation of this letter that no allegation had been sustained against Mr Cushway.
“The media claims are a complete fabrication and the facts are quite clear if they had bothered to check them properly,” he said.
He said that after Mr Hanna’s arrest on a charge of attempted murder on June 27, 2007 he had been approached by Mr Torbay who, at the request of the Hanna family, had been asked to visit Mr Hanna due to grave concerns about his well-being.
“I was on sick leave after a shoulder replacement,” Mr Cushway said. “The appropriate procedure is that people charged with a crime are entitled to welfare visits.
“I decided to accompany Mr Torbay out of respect for him because he was the local MP. When we visited Mr Hanna, his solicitor Sam Heagney was with him and there were a number of other police officers on duty at the station.
“Also that morning security cameras were operating during the visit and Mr Torbay and I knew it was appropriate for the meeting to be recorded. Not only was the visit above board, it followed all procedural requirements and due process.”
Mr Cushway said he believed the complaint to the media had come from a disgruntled former officer who was not present at the time of the meeting.
“I cannot understand why the media involved in spreading this false account did not check with police authorities, as I had requested them to do, before publishing so much misinformation,” he said. “It is unethical and brings nothing but disrepute to the media outlets concerned.”
He also refuted as false, claims that he had dined with Mr Torbay on the evening before the arrest, given that he was recovering from a shoulder operation.
“There were also media reports claiming I was seen after Mr Hanna’s arrest having dinner with Richard Torbay, both of us spending the time in a flurry of phone calls. This is fanciful,” Mr Cushway said.
“I understand that Phillip Hanna was arrested in the early hours of the morning and I certainly wasn’t eating dinner at that time or making phone calls, I was at home. And I did not have dinner with Richard that evening or the evening before.”
Mr Cushway described the inference that he had influenced the change to the charges laid against Mr Hanna and the outcome of proceedings as “ridiculous”.
“Charges are determined and overseen by the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney-General in their role as the independent prosecution authority,“ he said. “I had no involvement at all in the investigation and prosecution of Mr Hanna.”
The former New England Local Area Commander retired from the police force because of the shoulder injury which has left him permanently physically impaired. He served as General Manager at Guyra Shire Council before taking up his current position at Chief Operating Officer at the University of New England.
He said allegations that he had received preferential treatment to get the job were “absurd”.
“The precautions taken to ensure the process was objective were extremely rigorous,” he said. “It was run by an outside agency and the Vice-Chancellor Jim Barber has expressed his complete confidence in the process which would withstand any scrutiny.”
Mr Cushway said his investments in CentreLink developments would also stand up to public scrutiny. His family investment in three properties is relatively small. He is part of a large consortium of other New England investors including Richard Torbay and Nick Rice.
None of the investments involved Mr Hanna either as developer or investor, he said.
“In respect to the conduct of some media outlets, both local and national, over the past three weeks I am taking legal advice from my solicitor and barrister about what action I should take,” Mr Cushway said.
