NEWS > 19 February 2007

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Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney
19 February 2007

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New South Wales Police Service

Corrupt officer set me up, say

ELIA ELROB BOUJAOUDE says he was 17 years old when he was set up in an undercover drug sting by an officer who was later convicted of supplying 10 kilograms of cocaine.

He says police hit him over the head with a gun, poked his wound, made him urinate in his pants, took some of his money and falsified his evidence.

Reviving memories of the days when some NSW police were a law unto themselves, Boujaoude's case replayed events of almost 20 years ago in front of a District Court jury this month. Some of the dozen police witnesses had been named in the Wood royal commission or the Police Integrity Commission, the court was told.

When police swooped on the group of men in southern Sydney in May 1987, they found a bag with 279 grams of heroin hidden inside a newspaper in Boujaoude's red Jaguar. They arrested him and three others at the scene. Unlike the other suspects, two of whom have since died, Boujaoude escaped prosecution after fleeing Australia. He was rearrested in 2005.

In an unsworn statement to the jury Boujaoude said he had no knowledge of the heroin deal. He only knew that one of the men, Robert Harai, an acquaintance from his gym, sold steroids.

He said the undercover officer, Timothy Charles Rochford, had asked him to pick up a packet from Harai "� not that he threatened me with it, but [Rochford] had a gun on him and [was] a little edgy. I said to him: 'No worries, I'll pick it up for you,"' Boujaoude said.

Rochford, who was convicted in 1994 of supplying cocaine, also admitted in court he took drugs while undercover, but denied doing so during this operation.

He said undercover operatives were told by supervisors to lie about their drug use in court if asked.

Boujaoude said he had left the country after police told a family member it would be "in my best interests to leave" and his passport was mysteriously returned to his mailbox.

Days before, he said, one officer, Patrick John Bocking, had met him in Parramatta Park soliciting a bribe. Boujaoude was charged with perverting the course of justice, but charges were later withdrawn. Mr Bocking denies soliciting the bribe.

After his initial arrest, Boujaoude said that another officer, Kevin Gilbert Middleton, had hit Boujaoude's head with the butt of his gun, leading to loss of hearing in one ear.

"[Later] he put his thumb in my wound [at the] back of my ear � and would say to me: "Just tell me what I want to hear if you want to go home."'

After he urinated in his pants when not allowed to go to the toilet, the officers made "sniffling noises" and smiled, he said. "You felt, like, humiliated at that point in time, but there's not much you can do when you're in police custody," Boujaoude told the jury.

He said he was denied a lawyer or support person, and that he was a juvenile at the time, even though his driver's licence carried a birth date of August 1966. His mother and sister testified that his real birthday was in 1969 and that his birthday was changed to commemorate the date his older brother had died.

Boujaoude denied giving some of the answers in the police record of interview, or signing it. He said police had taken from him $6500 he had carried to buy a new car and returned only $5000.

In court the officers denied all allegations of improper practices or mistreatment of Boujaoude.

Boujaoude's lawyer, Tony Bellanto, QC, told the jury police practices at the time raised doubts about the case. But on Thursday the jury found Boujaoude guilty of supplying heroin. He will be sentenced in April.

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Article sourced from

Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney19 February 2007

Corrupt officer set me up, say

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Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney
19 February 2007