A decorated Australian Federal Police officer has been found not guilty of indecently assaulting a woman, with a magistrate saying she is "uncertain as to where the truth lies" after key witnesses gave conflicting evidence.
The verdict on Wednesday afternoon marked the end of a more than two-year legal battle for Ivan Bruno Kovacic, who was suspended from duty after he was arrested and charged in November 2019.
The 52-year-old Civic man was sporting a black eye when he first faced the ACT Magistrates Court the day after he was alleged to have committed an act of indecency without consent; a charge he always denied.
A hearing conducted in the same court in recent weeks was told it was uncontroversial that Mr Kovacic had met a group of foreigners, all of whom have since left the country, in the hot tub of the unit complex they were all living in at the time in question.
He ended up inviting these people - two men and a woman - up to his apartment to try some Australian craft beer.
Giving her verdict, magistrate Louise Taylor said all four were "quite intoxicated" by the time there was a physical confrontation in that unit and one of the men knocked Mr Kovacic briefly unconscious with a punch.
The two male guests then went, leaving the woman behind in the apartment to tend to a "black and blue" Mr Kovacic, who was said to have been "bleeding everywhere" from a cut on his face while slumped against a wall.
The woman helped the "rattled" police officer to his bedroom when he woke, and began to clean the blood off him.
She later told police, and then the court, that Mr Kovacic had "whipped out" his penis while this was happening and forced her hand onto it. The officer denied this.
The alleged victim also claimed the 52-year-old had tried to kiss her and repeatedly attempted to pull her shorts down, growing upset and yelling "just let me" when he was unable to remove them.
While the two men who had accompanied her to Mr Kovacic's apartment were not there by the time of the alleged indecent act, they also gave evidence about the events leading up to them leaving.
Ms Taylor ultimately found all three of the off-duty police officer's guests had downplayed their levels of intoxication, damaging their credibility.
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She also said their versions of what had happened in the lead-up to the knockout punch differed, and it was "difficult to reconcile" claims they all made about feeling uncomfortable in the company of Mr Kovacic because the statements seemed to be at odds with their actions in going to his apartment.
The magistrate said she was satisfied Mr Kovacic had, as alleged, used racist language at some point on the day in question and that this had probably been the catalyst for his guests to start making moves to leave around the time the knockout punch was thrown.
But, in relation to major aspects of the case, she said she was ultimately left "uncertain as to where the truth lies".
Mr Kovacic's lawyer, Tim Sharman, had previously suggested the claims against his client had been fabricated to give the man who had knocked the police officer out an excuse for having landed the blow.
Ms Taylor ended up unconvinced the three key witnesses had lied, but she said she was also unable to reject the possibility they had not been entirely truthful.
The magistrate accordingly acquitted Mr Kovacic and dismissed the charge, ordering authorities to pay the 52-year-old's legal costs.
