Joey's weekend of hell mistaken for a rapist

Joey De Mesa said... I have got records at work that show that I was at work but they didn't do any research.

A 23-year-old man wrongly locked up on Sunday by police who suspected him of stalking and assaulting teenaged girls says he barely slept or ate while incarcerated.

Joey De Mesa, of Minchinbury, was released from custody late last night after police received forensic test results clearing him and applied to a Supreme Court judge to have him set free.

NSW police, who released CCTV footage of Mr De Mesa in connection with the crimes, have now applied for 11 charges relating to sex attacks on six teenaged girls is Sydney's west between April and June this year to be dropped.

Mr De Mesa said he went to Mt Druitt police station in good faith on Saturday evening after friends and relatives recognised him from the footage broadcast on television news reports at the weekend.

To his horror, instead of ruling him out as a suspect, police arrested and charged him, he said.

"I just didn't know what to do, I was in terrible shock," he said.

"They treated me as guilty. They all believed that it was me."

Mr De Mesa, who works six days a week at a greengrocer in Edgecliff, said he protested his innocence but was held overnight in a cell by himself at a Penrith Court holding facility.

"I said I have got records at work that show that I was at work but they didn't do any research," he said.

"It was really really bad. I didn't know what to do. I had given up hope. I felt that no one was going to believe me.

"I felt that it was really going to be me that they were going to lock up [for good]."

Mr De Mesa said his court appearance on Sunday, where he did not receive bail, compounded his distress.

He said a lawyer advised him that he wouldn't be able to get bail.

"I had never been to a court before. I was just so confused and shocked," he said.

Mr De Mesa said he was overwhelmed with relief when he was finally told last night that he was no longer a suspect.

"I was just thinking about my parents, I was going to give them a hug and let them know that their son didn't do this," he said.

'[Police] were just doing their job but [from] what I can see they didn't do their job properly, they didn't do any investigations, they just wanted to close the case on an innocent guy, which they've done.

Quote: Please note all the material that was meant to praise police (most likely prompted by the Sydney Morning Herald) as they do, has been removed from the original article. Police should do their job properly, at least, before mistreating and charging people taken into custody as suspects, who are thought to be criminals by them, if that's what they do? The way this person was mistreated is "A" typical of how police treat people. The fact that he handed himself in should have been a clear indication that he may have been innocent. Yet Police had no regard for that or what he said and went ahead and mistreated this person, why? Because in the police eyes every suspect is a criminal.

People pay taxes for police to do their job properly, not mistreat alleged offenders. Where is it written that police should mistreat people? The general rules and regulaitons? The law? Not fair!!! Questions? What good is CCTV in terms of identification? Meanwhile the rapist is still out there.

Why is this persons photo plastered all over the media? How will he forget his experience with police? Will that encourage people to come forward in the future? Why would an alleged six time rapist give himself up? Only a lazy cop who wanted an easy day would think so!

That is to suggest that most anyone can be tried for a crime without an alabi or proper forensic examination of the evidence. So don't open any doors that don't need to be open if you know you're innocent CCTV, corporate media or not.

Chijoff fined $750 over bogus leaflets

The estranged husband of former Liberal candidate for Lindsay Karen Chijoff has been fined $750 for his role in a bogus leaflet drop in the hotly contested federal electorate.

Greg Alex Chijoff, 44, last week pleaded guilty to distributing unauthorised election material in the lead-up to last November's federal election.

Downing Centre Local Court Magistrate Ian Barnett fined the IT engineer $750 plus court costs of $70, reducing the maximum $1,000 penalty in recognition of the personal consequences of his actions.

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Racist escapes conviction over 'disgusting' fake leaflets incident

Liberal Party member ... Jackie Kelly's husband, Gary Clark, has pleaded not guilty.

A Sydney magistrate has told a man who escaped conviction over the distribution of fake leaflets during last year's federal election campaign there was national disgust over the incident.

The leaflets, attributed to a non-existent Islamic group, were distributed in the Western Sydney seat of Lindsay days before the election.

They alleged the ALP wanted the Bali bombers forgiven and urged Muslims to vote Labor.

Two of five men charged over the incident have pleaded guilty, but 37-year-old Troy Craig had no conviction recorded.

Magistrate Pat O'Shane said although there was national disgust over the incident and he should feel ashamed, it was at the lower end of the scale of offences.

The estranged husband of Liberal candidate Karen Chijoff, Greg Chijoff, did plead guilty. His case has been adjourned until next month.

Quote: What about some community service? Washing Muslims feet!

Updated: 30 April 2008

Kelly seemed involved, court told
THE former federal Liberal MP Jackie Kelly appeared "at the face of it to be involved" in the fake leaflet affair in her western Sydney seat at the last election, a court has heard.

A volunteer who was asked to distribute the leaflets - and who faced court yesterday with four others, including the husbands of Ms Kelly, the retiring MP, and the Liberal candidate contesting the seat - might have been entitled to think it had been approved, because he had been asked to meet at Ms Kelly's home, his barrister said yesterday.

The party machine also owed its volunteers a "duty of care" not to ask them to engage in unethical and criminal behaviour, the barrister and former NSW Liberal Party vice-president, Alex Howen, told the Downing Centre Local Court.

Five men were accused of allegedly breaching federal election legislation by distributing a brochure that did not bear the names, address and authorisation of their political masters. The brochure, distributed by the Liberal Party volunteers, was claimed to have been published by the fake "Islamic Australia Federation", and bore the ALP insignia.

But the magistrate, Pat O'Shane, said the stupid and offensive action was "an ugly chapter" and the community had shown its view of it already. The Liberal Party lost the seat of Lindsay, which Ms Kelly had held with a margin of almost 10 per cent.

The court heard about 15 brochures were distributed in the St Marys area on November 20 before witnesses saw the men.

Those being prosecuted include Ms Kelly's husband, Gary James Clark, who pleaded not guilty, and the now estranged husband of the election candidate Karen Chijoff, who sought to replace Ms Kelly as the local member. Greg Alex Chijoff pleaded guilty yesterday, but disputed some of the facts.

Another senior Liberal party official, Jeffrey Michael Egan, who left the party after the scandal, also pleaded not guilty. Robert Mathew Holstein, who failed to appear in court, did not enter a plea.

Mr Howen said his client, Troy Matthew Craig, had not been a party member for about seven years, but had volunteered because he was a friend of Ms Chijoff's.

Mr Howen said Craig was asked to come to Ms Kelly's and Clark's home, where he saw the brochure for the first time.

"He is entitled to think that this was all approved. The federal member appears at the face of it to be involved," he said.

Craig thought it was stupid, crude and "dumb politically and dumb because of its content", Mr Howen said. He also realised it lacked the required authorisation but "simply went along with the distribution".

Craig had been told "the brochure was OK and everything in it is true", Mr Howen told the court.

Clark had pleaded guilty, facing a maximum $1000 fine, but Ms O'Shane discharged the case against him without recording a conviction, after hearing he would lose his job as a valuer if he received a conviction.

"That kind of material arose in a political climate of divisiveness and disharmony which had been generated over several years. It is now well recognised across the country that this was an ugly chapter in our history. The people of this country have moved on … and are trying to build an inclusive civil society and you need to be part of it," she told Craig.

Chijoff's lawyer told the court he disputed the allegations that he distributed the leaflet with the other co-accused in the suburb of St Mary, but instead pleaded guilty to distributing the leaflet by himself in Oxley Park. His case was adjourned until May 7. The cases against the others will return to court later next month.

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