The police-officer son of ex-New South Wales (NSW) Labor premier Kristina Keneally faces a six-week wait to learn if he will be spared jail for making a false statement that led to an activist’s wrongful imprisonment.
Daniel Keneally, 25, was convicted of fabricating evidence in November and faced a sentencing hearing in the Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday.
The prosecution wants Mr. Keneally to be sent to prison to reflect the seriousness of the crime.
Mr. Keneally wrote a statement containing numerous falsehoods relating to a phone call from Luke Brett Moore to Newtown police station in February 2021.
The statement, including claims Mr. Moore wanted to kill a police officer, resulted in the activist being arrested and held in custody for three weeks.
The founder of ISuepolice was later released on bail and the charge dropped due to a recording of the conversation made on his phone.
Taken without Mr. Keneally’s knowledge, the recording showed significant discrepancies from the officer’s statement.
Mr. Brender rejected Keneally’s claims that he had made an honest mistake, convicting the 25-year-old in November.
“There is no basis to suggest any other person suggested the content or affected [Keneally’s] memory,” the magistrate said then.
Mr. Keneally was currently suspended with pay from his police job, but his career would be over when he was sentenced, Mr. McGirr said on Thursday.
“He'll be terminated and I don’t think that will come as a surprise,” he said.
The proceedings were also likely to torpedo Keneally’s plans to study law.
Mr. Keneally’s father returned to court after accompanying him to the September hearing, however his ex-premier mother had purposefully stayed away to avoid stoking a “media circus”, Mr. McGirr said.
“This is a high-profile matter and he really has had this hanging over his head for almost two-and-a-half years,” he said.
The prosecution said Mr. Keneally’s actions led to Mr. Moore being accused of offences that did not occur based on Mr. Keneally’s deliberate mistruths.
Mr. Keneally must have known his statement contained many falsehoods and elected to deliberately include incorrect evidence, the crown prosecutor submitted.
The media attention was driven by necessary public interest in a serving police officer being proven to have falsified evidence and did not rise to an unusual level, he added.
Mr. Keneally is due to be sentenced in February.
An investigation by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission led to Mr. Keneally’s charge in October 2022.
The police watchdog said it would provide a report to the NSW parliament when the criminal proceedings ended.
Outside court, Mr. McGirr said Keneally maintained his innocence and indicated a potential appeal of the guilty verdict.
“There’s a long road ahead and my client keeps his head held high,” he said.
