This appeared last week:
Queensland police officer pleads guilty after leaking woman's details to violent ex-husband
Neil Punchard pleads guilty to nine counts of computer hacking in crime that victim says was a ‘betrayal’ and left her feeling unsafe
Mon 14 Oct 2019 14.34 AEDT Last modified on Mon 14 Oct 2019 15.05 AEDT
Neil Punchard thought it was funny. The Queensland senior constable used a police database to obtain the personal details of a domestic abuse victim and then joked when he sent her address to her violent former husband.
“Just tell her you know where she lives and leave it at that. Lol,” Punchard said in a 2014 text message to his childhood friend, who would later threaten to kill his former wife and strap bombs to their children.
On Monday, more than five years after sending that message, Neil Glen Punchard pleaded guilty to nine counts of computer hacking. The Brisbane magistrates court heard Punchard illegally accessed two separate computer systems in 2013 and 2014 as he became “became more and more embroiled” in his friend’s acrimonious separation.
Punchard was due to be sentenced on Monday afternoon.
“To find out that a police officer was plotting with an abuser behind closed doors is a sense of betrayal that is difficult to articulate,” the victim, Julie*, told Guardian Australia.
In 2016, police declined to bring criminal charges against Punchard. They eventually reopened an investigation last year after consistent public pressure from Julie, whose interactions with police became increasingly embarrassing for the service and the former commissioner, Ian Stewart.
Julie has become consumed by fear; heightened because police were supposed to protect her, but instead repeatedly treated her in ways that made her feel “bullied” and unprotected.
“I cannot comprehend how a person in such a trusted job could do such a horrible thing and think it would be without consequence,” Julie said.
“I live in fear every day. I never go anywhere alone because of fear. I lock the car doors as soon as I get into the car. I cannot trust new people. I am unable to make new friends or know which police officers to trust again. No matter what I do, I cannot feel safe.
“I thought that if I was brave enough to come forward and speak up, that the strength of the law would remove such a threat immediately. It has not.
“I had no choice left but to stir a hornet’s nest by going to the media with my story. If it were not for the ongoing support of total strangers responding to stories in the media and sending me the strength to carry on in the face of immense adversity and an enormous power imbalance, I am not sure how I could have stood up against the degree of maliciousness that I have endured during this process.
Lots more here:
There is also coverage here:
Queensland police officer sentenced over releasing domestic violence complainant's details to former partner
Updated
Queensland police officer Senior Constable Neil Punchard has been sentenced to two months' jail, wholly suspended for 18 months, for leaking the personal details of a domestic violence complainant to her former partner.
Key points:
- Senior Constable Neil Punchard pleaded guilty to all nine counts
- Punchard had been childhood friends with the man he shared the information with
- The prosecutor said Punchard had become thoroughly involved in what was "a very acrimonious separation"
Senior Constable Punchard was stood down from official duty in December 2018 after being charged with nine counts of computer hacking.
Punchard accessed confidential police databases, including Q-PRIME, on nine occasions over a year, and passed on the woman's residential address to her ex-husband, who is now subject to a Domestic Violence Order (DVO).
Punchard on Monday pleaded guilty to all nine counts, after initially trying to have the case thrown out in September.
The woman told the ABC after the sentence was handed down that media reporting was instrumental in her case.
"If it wasn't for the media I believe I would have been dead," she said.
"It's been a long three-year uphill battle fighting for justice. I now understand why so many women die of domestic violence."
The woman was pregnant with her third child with her current husband at the time the information was shared.
In a victim impact statement submitted to the court, the woman said she and her children were still living in fear.
"Words cannot describe the hurt, stress and deep anxieties that I suffer on a daily basis because of a police officer in a job expected to protect me, did the exact opposite," she wrote in the statement.
"The fact it was no accident, instead deliberate, and it was calculating, has made it all the more painful — no matter what I do, I cannot feel safe.
Lots more here:
From the story contained here it is clear that if a system run by Police with its limited number of users is vulnerable to ‘bad actors’ how much worse is the vulnerability with the #myHR and the thousands who can access the system, many of which would not be easily identifiable at the individual level – unlike police logons.
The reports make it clear just how much suffering is potentially inflicted on victims and also makes it clear that mates will sometimes cause this sort of nuisance and suffering with very little remorse and aforethought.
It is only a matter of time until we see incidents like the one described above with the #myHR.
What do you think? How can this sort of abuse be properly prevented?
David.
1 comment:
re "Neil Punchard pleads guilty to nine counts of computer hacking"
It wasn't hacking, he was a trusted user.
Security rule 101: don't trust anyone, especially trusted users.
How many trusted users does My Health Record have? Far too many.
What can ADHA do about that? Nothing, except hope.
Hope is not a good strategy.
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