Vic: Identity evidence unreliable, Debs and Roberts appeal told

AAP General News (Australia)
08-09-2004
Vic: Identity evidence unreliable, Debs and Roberts appeal told

A court has been told identification is a key issue in the appeals of two men now serving
life sentences for the murder of two police officers in Melbourne.

BANDALI MICHAEL DEBS and JASON JOSEPH ROBERTS were present in court for the opening
of their appeals against conviction and sentence.

They were convicted of the murders of Sergeant GARY SILK and Senior Constable ROD MILLER,
who were shot in August 1998.

The two officers were engaged in an undercover operation aimed at tracking down two
armed robbers, and were gunned down after pulling over a suspect car.

DEBS' barrister, PAUL HOLDENSON, QC, has told the Victorian Court of Appeal that DEBS
and ROBERTS were blamed for the armed robberies during the trial but did not actually
face charges for them.

He said it was the Crown's case that DEBS had been identified at the scene of one of
the robberies and ROBERTS had been identified at another.

But he said the evidence on identification was inherently unreliable and the trial
judge should have warned the jury about the dangers of relying on it.

The appeal will continue tomorrow.

AAP RTV sew/dk/wjf/rp

KEYWORD: DEBS (MELBOURNE)

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