A former policeman tried to tip off a man associated with a known white supremacist to warn him that phone calls were being intercepted by police, a Perth court has heard.
Robert David Critchley, 43, is on trial in the Perth District Court, charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.
In his opening address today, prosecutor Dave Dempster told the court Critchley used a public phone on January 15 last year to make a 66-second call to Murray Holmes, a friend of white supremacist Jacob Marshall Hort, to alert him that police were intercepting calls.
Critchley was a senior constable at the time, working in the West Australian State Intelligence Division.
Mr Dempster alleges Critchley told Mr Holmes to tell his friend with an “American wife”, referring to Mr Hort without naming him, to change his SIM card.
Mr Dempster said although Critchley denied being racist, he admitted to police that his wife Sylvia, who was Zimbabwean, had prejudices about black people and had bitter memories from her time in Africa.
He said police intercepted an email in which Critchley and his wife discussed white supremacy.
Mr Dempster quoted her as saying, “We thought our views were possibly extreme – these people are extreme.”
Critchley’s lawyer chose not to give an opening address.
Giving evidence, Mr Holmes said he thought the caller had an Irish accent.
“Maybe it was Irish. It seemed Irish to me,” he said.
Mr Holmes said he had trouble remembering details of the unusual conversation, but testified he had never met Critchley before.
The jury trial before Judge Andrew Stavrianou continues.
