Jobs you never forget

I was stationed at Woomera police station in February 1997 when a call came in about a head-on rail collision. It had

resulted in multiple injuries and a fire near the Mount Christie Railway Siding west of Woomera. A Melbourne-bound freighter had collided with a Perth-bound steel carrier. The most serious injury was to a driver whose arm had been amputated by the door as he jumped clear at the last moment. A large fire had engulfed the area surrounding the locomotives and carriages. The scene appeared apocalyptic with the uncontrolled fire and injured personnel. We were on scene for days attempting to retrieve the severed arm from the locomotive, contain the fire and scene, and assisting the Australian Transport Safety Bureau with the preliminary investigation.

A woman known as a repeat victim of domestic violence with multiple partners was dropped off at the Port Pirie Hospital

in April 2014. She had suffered extensive skull fractures and bruising to the brain. Subsequently transported to the old RAH, she underwent emergency surgery to remove a section of her skull to release pressure from extensive swelling. She remained in ICU in an induced coma for a month. I arrested her partner and charged him with multiple counts of aggravated cause serious harm. He was later convicted and imprisoned. Before this incident, the woman was anti police and refused to assist in previous matters. Afterward, she became a domestic violence advocate for local victim support services and the Domestic Violence Action Group.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT GAVIN MILDRUM

(Port Pirie CIB)

I investigated a historical child sex abuse matter involving a father and

daughter in 2002. I arrested the father for multiple counts of unlawful sexual intercourse. In connection with one of the main charges was a crime scene at a house with a cellar. Before the subsequent District Court trial, there was an extensive voir dire over crucial evidence about a pool table at that scene. A crime-scene examiner and I gave contradictory evidence. I described the pool table but the crimescene examiner said that there was no such table at the scene when he attended. The pool table became the focus of the defence for some days until an enlarged photo showed that the table was identifiable as the door to the cellar, a fact not obvious in the smaller photo.

“The scene appeared apocalyptic with the uncontrolled fire and injured personnel.”

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