Earlier today, jury members in the Officer A trial retired to consider their verdict. At approximately 4:00pm the jury found Officer A not guilty of murder. Officer A was also acquitted of the alternative charge of manslaughter.

The PSA welcomes today’s court decision.

We have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Correctional Officer since day one and welcome the end to what has been a harrowing experience for him.

Like our members who work in the justice system, the PSA has the utmost respect for the rule of law.

We’d like to thank our legal team, led by Phil Strickland SC and Stephen Russell.

The PSA has nothing but sympathy for the deceased and his family. However, it is important that the community understand the dangers faced by Correction Officers everyday they go to work.

They are deployed with firearms for a reason, as they are tasked to protect and service the community and safeguard them from dangerous and violent criminals.

We need to implement legislative change to protect our members from similar charges in the future.

We will be making representations to the Government in respect to this.

The PSA and POVB would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff who attended the trial and showed support to Officer A and his family. Many of these staff members did so in their own time.

Officer A will still require the support and assistance from friends, family and the PSA. However, we will all take comfort in the knowledge that a Prison Officer no longer faces time behind bars for doing their job.