NSW police admits to threatening Sarah Hanson-Young’s daughter
A Sydney police officer has pleaded guilty to threatening Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young in a phone call. NSW Police Senior Constable Sean Daniel Murphy has admitted making phone calls to the senator in her Adelaide and Canberra offices in July.
He was arrested by Australian Federal Police on July 23. He told police in his first phone call to Hanson-Young’s Adelaide office that he had “consumed a large amount of wine” and become angry watching her on television.
According to court documents released on Tuesday, a campaign manager from Greens answered Murphy’s call made to Hanson-Young’s Adelaide office on July 3. The 58-year-old officer asked if he could have a picture of the senator’s young daughter. When he was told no and asked why he would want a picture of the daughter, he said he would want to commit an obscene sexual act on her.
He also called the senator’s Canberra office the next day. He told a staffer that Hanson-Young “needed to get f-----.” He again asked for a photograph of the senator’s daughter, saying, “Do you know under Islam you can f--- 9-year-old girls?”
Murphy was charged with using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence. He did not attend the Downing Centre local court on Tuesday. His barrister told the court that his client was “contrite without relief” and that Murphy had offered to apologise in person to Hanson-Young but the senator declined.
Barrister John Davidson lauded his client’s 36 years’ history as a police officer, saying Murphy had won two awards for bravery.
“After 30 years on the street, he’s seen more blood and mayhem than anyone can imagine,” Davidson told the court. “He’s nearly lost his life trying to save that of another.”
Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson placed Murphy on bail on condition that he would not contact any witness or the senator’s electorate office. The police officer would also live either at a Campsie address or the Wollongong mental facility where is was being treated under psychiatric care for alcohol abuse and “severe PTSD.”
He faces a maximum of three years in jail for the offence. He is due for sentencing in February.
