A police officer has been found guilty of a lying about his condom use when he gave evidence during a criminal hearing related to his then girlfriend's false rape accusation against her former partner.
Scott John White, a Queanbeyan-based officer at the time of the hearing in July 2015, stood trial this week in the ACT Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to two counts of perjury.
One count involved him lying about his use of condoms with Sarah-Jane Parkinson, 31, who was ultimately sentenced to jail for her falsity.
Crown prosecutor Anthony Williamson said the condom issue was relevant to the false rape complaint because Parkinson alleged her assailant used a condom "whilst she was supposedly raped and left the wrapper behind".
White had said they never used condoms because he had a vasectomy in 2009 before he met Parkinson.
During the trial, he conceded condoms were used during anal sex, but he thought questions about use related to only penile-vaginal sex.
He also told a police officer he and Parkinson used condoms for only anal sex but excluded it from his statement because the officer ignored it.
In his closing statement Wednesday, Mr Williamson said the jury could be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt about White's guilt based on cumulative forces.
These included that the questions of condom use was not out of the blue as he was already asked about it during police investigations and that there was no rational explanation why he inferred condom use applied only to vaginal sex.
White was also accused of lying about speaking with Parkinson regarding police statements and her case.
The jury was discharged in relation to that count after it could not reach a verdict.
Audio of the 2015 hearing played during trial had White saying: "No, I knew that she was making one [statement] ... I was aware there was a statement but that's it."
Asked a number of times if they spoke about what would go in their statements, he said no.
White said the pair had spoken about the case but not the "fine specifics".
Mr Williamson said the accused's denials about the statements were "simply untrue" because "clear and compelling" evidence, including text messages, showed the pair discussing the details of her case.
Mr Williamson said this included about 45 minutes before one of the statements was made.
He had earlier said the trial would show text messages between White and Parkinson being evidence the pair spoke about dates, locations and injuries she allegedly received from her former partner.
However, Mr Williamson then conceded the questioning related to police statement discussions was not clear.
Defence barrister John Purnell, SC, said the Crown's 2015 questions put to White were ambiguous and the prosecutor never cross-examined him about the condom issue considering its importance.
The defence also relied on "mistake of fact" related to the condom issue.
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Mr Purnell also referred to other witnesses in the trial, including a long-serving police officer, who gave evidence about White's good character.
"I couldn't fault him. He's honest, reliable, trustworthy. I'm surprised that I'm here today," the officer said.
The court heard White was an intermediary between police and Parkinson during their investigation of her.
Justice Michael Elkaim told jurors they could take that role into account when assessing his recklessness and falsity.
He said the onus of the defence of mistake of fact was on the accused to establish, which needed to be only a reasonable possibility.
The matter is scheduled before the court again on February 17.
