WA Police assistant commissioner accused of stalking colleague
A WA Police sergeant told a Perth magistrate he felt suffocated and harassed by the state’s deputy police commissioner in a case described in court as “the story of a friendship gone wrong”.
Gailene Hamilton is on trial in the Perth Magistrates Court over allegations she stalked the woman, whose identity is protected, and used the police system to repeatedly search for her location for personal reasons.
Hamilton denies the accusations and defends them.
On Monday, the complainant told the court how she was frightened and intimidated by the intensity of the more senior officer’s attention and did not know how to deal with it.
“I started to feel uncomfortable about it but I couldn’t voice it,” the woman told the court.
Hamilton’s offer to stay at home in Exmouth has proven to be becoming a more regular prospect.
“I wasn’t comfortable with the frequency. I just wasn’t comfortable with the friendship,” the woman said.
“Some things happened along the way… he was very worried.
“I didn’t need him to worry about me. It was a constant worry. If I hadn’t responded to his texts right away, I would have been like, ‘Are you okay?’ would be.”
The woman said she found it difficult to ask Hamilton to back down, telling the court she “didn’t want to offend” before adding that she was “concerned” about her own position given Hamilton’s superiority.
“They have the power to make your life very difficult,” he said.
“I’ve seen people get mistreated when things get personal or when someone doesn’t like you.”
The woman asked for help from a psychologist on this issue.
“I referred to Gailene as a high-ranking officer,” he said.
“I talked to him about a problem I was having and how I didn’t know how to deal with it.
“I was trying to create distance — for example, by saying, ‘Something’s going on,’ ‘I don’t want anyone staying here right now’ — and I wasn’t being listened to.
“I was worried about what the results would be.”
The woman said the two had an argument over the issue.
In an incident reported to the court, the woman claimed that this exchange made Hamilton cry, saying, “I am a 52-year-old woman, you do not need to worry about me.”
“I felt like I was suffocating,” he told the court.
“I said, ‘I feel like I’m in a relationship,’ there was anxiety and constant messages, I felt like I had to respond.”
The woman later told the court she repeatedly tried to make excuses for staying at Hamilton’s home but “didn’t get the hint”.
On another occasion, the woman told Hamilton she didn’t want her at her house because she said she was going on a date, and claimed he said: “Why don’t you tell me things, why don’t you trust me?”
“And I said, ‘Because it’s none of your business!’ I shouted. And I was done, and I thought, ‘I don’t know why you’re not listening to me,'” he said.
Another incident led the woman to lie that she was sick to avoid a conversation that she claimed led to a barrage of texts and phone calls from Hamilton.
The woman then responded “please stop contacting me” but claimed the contact did not stop.
“I thought saying ‘Please stop contacting me’ would be enough, but it didn’t happen that way,” he told the court.
“There were numerous messages and numerous phone calls over a period of time.”
Hamilton is charged in each case with one count of stalking another to intimidate and four counts of unlawful use of a computer.
The hearing is expected to last one to two weeks and will hear from other police officers who worked with the complainant, as well as his psychologist.
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