A Sydney magistrate who served as a police officer 25 years ago has stepped away from a case in which a male officer allegedly sexually touched female colleagues.
John Bernard Vincente, 38, has plead not guilty to eight charges of sexually touching three of his female colleagues without consent in 2019.
The Crown was successful in having all alleged victims' evidence heard together to show "the accused touched the complainants on these eight occasions for sexual arousal or sexual gratification,"' crown prosecutor Marguerite Vassall said in Sydney's Local Court on Wednesday.
Before proceeding any further magistrate Jacqueline Milledge made sure both parties knew about her previous job, adding she had dealt with many police-related matters in the past.
"I can assure you I never had any complaint of any prejudice or bias as a result of my background,"' Ms Milledge said.
But defence lawyer David Pullinger was given instructions that Ms Milledge be recused, due to her working "at a time when the culture was not always favourable to female serving officers".
"Your experience might be such as to colour a matter such as this ... you have young police female officers complaining about the conduct of a male officer," Mr Pullinger said.
The magistrate said all judges had a variety of life experiences, while many were also victims, but this did not prevent them from fairly adjudicating on a topic.
"Sexual interference, touching, and unwanted advances, they don't just happen in the constabulary, they happen everywhere," Ms Milledge said.
"If I was not able to stand aside from my personal experiences in life ... to deal with cases dispassionately and objectively ... I could not do this job."
The former deputy state coroner said she was satisfied she could proceed without bias and the law was "on her side".
But having spoken at a police conference five years ago about difficulties facing young women in the force, Ms Milledge chose to stand down from the matter.
The hearing was adjourned for June 24 where it will open again before another magistrate.
