Five AFP officers, working in the ACT Policing division of the federal police, Commander Michael Chew, Detective Superintendent Scott Moller, Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman, Senior Constable Emma Frizzell and Senior Constable Trent Madders are suing the ACT government and former ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold for defamation.

The Guardian reported very limited information on Monday (29/4/24) saying that the AFP officers, only naming Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman, are suing because Shane Drumgold “had complained that the officers engaged in “a very clear campaign to pressure” him not to prosecute” Bruce Lehrmann for the rape of Brittany Higgins.

An ACT government spokesperson said it “understands that proceedings have been commenced in the federal court by members of the AFP in respect of what they allege to be defamatory statements by the former [DPP]” but it had not yet been served legal papers. (Click here to read more)

The Guardian also said that the AFP officers lodged their claim last Friday (26/4/24) but it was not on the Federal Court of Australia’s website until late on Tuesday (30/4/24) afternoon. The matter details are: 

Court: Federal Court of Australia, Australian Capital Territory Registry – Filing Date: 30-Apr-2024

Number: ACD29/2024 – Title: MARCUS COLIN BOORMAN & ORS v AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY & ANOR

Below is a sceenshot from the Federal Courts website of all the parties in the matter:

For some reason, at the time of writing this article, late Tuesday (30/4/24) night, The Guardian is the only other media that have said anything about the issue. I published a video on Tuesday titled “Corrupt AFP Officers launch defamation claims over the Bruce Lehrmann matter”. (Click here to watch the video on YouTube)

If their defamation case goes to hearing they are in big trouble. Commander Michael Chew, Detective Superintendent Scott Moller and Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman were exposed for corrupt conduct at the 2023 ACT Inquiry into the police cover-up which I will outline below. 

I published a video on the 30/5/23, as per below, with Commander Michael Chew giving evidence in the witness box at the ACT Inquiry into the police cover-up which is titled “AFP Commander Michael Chew blames covid for illegally giving Brittany Higgins’ counselling notes to Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyers”. 

On the 31st of May 2023 I published an article titled “AFP Detective Scott Moller committed perjury at the ACT Inquiry trying to conceal aiding and abetting Bruce Lehrmann” which starts off:

Detective Superintendent Scott Moller has blatantly committed perjury at the ACT Police Corruption Inquiry when he gave evidence on Tuesday the 23rd of May and the 2 key witnesses are Bruce Lehrmann’s barristers Steve Whybrow and John Korn.

Steve Whybrow and John Korn have in effect accused Detective Superintendent Scott Moller of helping them with Bruce Lehrmann’s defence and that is why Scott Moller refuted their version of events when he was in the witness stand.

The article also has the below video of the ACT Inquiry showing Scott Moller duck and weave as Shane Drumgold’s barrister Mark Tedeschi has him cornered and Moller knows it and gets aggressive at the end.

(Click here to read the full article)

On the 8th of June 2023 I published an article titled “AFP Detective Marcus Boorman’s tampering with a police document to conceal Bruce Lehrmann’s lies exposed at the ACT Inquiry” which starts off:

Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman deliberately deleted 2 key paragraphs of a document written by other police, that accused Bruce Lehrmann of lying, which was sent to a senior police officer to determine the prospect of rape charges against Lehrmann as per the below video of the ACT Police Corruption Inquiry

There can be no doubt that Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman tampered with the police document in an attempt to stop Bruce Lehrmann being charged with raping Brittany Higgins. 

What makes it worse is that Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister Steve Whybrow told the ACT Inquiry that he had a conversation with Marcus Boorman during the rape trial and Mr Whybrow claims that Marcus Boorman told him he would resign from the police if Lehrmann was found guilty. That is further evidence of Boorman being biased in favour of Bruce Lehrmann and helps explain why Boorman tampered with the police document. 

The article also has the below video titled “Smoking gun AFP document shows police concealed information to hide Bruce Lehrmann’s lies”. 

In the video Counsel Assisting the Inquiry Joshua Jones questions Detective Superintendent Scott Moller about Boorman tampering with the police document because while Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman has provided a statement to the ACT Inquiry, he is not being cross examined on the statement. From what I can gather Marcus Boorman is on stress leave as a result of the Lehrmann investigation. 

(Click here to read the full article)

Senior Constable Emma Frizzell looked like she had been thrown under a bus by senior AFP officers when she was in the witness box at the ACT Inquiry and from memory Senior Constable Trent Madders did not give evidence from the witness box but did file a witness statement.

But as a side note, in September 2023 The Canberra Times reported: “Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson slams detective Trent Madders over ‘cover-up'”

A judge has slammed a Canberra detective for trying to “cover up” the mishandling of evidence, remarking that “lawlessness on the part of police encourages lawlessness in our society”. (Click here to read the article. It’s behind a paywall)

What’s the saying? It’s hard to keep a good man down, and Senior Constable Trent Madders sounds like a great man who specialises in cover-ups.

Senator Linda Reynolds had success suing the ACT Government and Shane Drumgold, but she sued in the WA Supreme Court that still has the old defamation laws that make it easier to win a defamation case.

The Federal Court has the new defamation laws which make it harder to win and the AFP police suing will have to prove they have suffered “serious harm” and given none of them lost their jobs, and likely can’t prove any financial damage, I doubt they will have much chance of proving any serious harm.

And just from the evidence above you can see that the AFP police won’t be very credible witnesses for themselves if they have to hop in the witness box and give evidence under oath.

But the AFP police might be hoping the ACT Government settle. If the ACT Government settle with the AFP police, then the ACT Government will become part of the cover-up.

Over the next few weeks we will find out more but I wonder who is paying the legal costs for the 5 AFP police. Is the federal government paying for 5 public servants to sue the ACT Government to cover-up the cover-up?

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