Paul McGirr has this week strongly defended police officer Daniel Keneally against claims he allegedly fabricated evidence with intent to mislead a judicial tribunal.

His lawyer Paul McGirr argued the police officer made an unintentional mistake in confusing the phone call with the material on Mr Moore’s website, “isuepolice.com” which he was browsing at the same time. The website contained a number of scandalous claims against officers at Goulburn Police Station and former Police Commissioner Mick Fuller.

Mr Keneally conceded the “rambling and incoherent” phone call did not contain any threats of violence or any mention of the name of the rural detective.

Constable Keneally admitted he “wasn’t totally focused” on the phone call with Mr Moore because he was browsing the caller’s website and the police database while also attending to duties.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr Olav Nielssen opined the “sheer amount” of distractions had the effect of “undermining the accuracy of (Constable Keneally’s) recollection”.

“Our memory is not reliable,” he told the court.

Senior lecturer and memory expert Dr Stefanie Sharman agreed, noting that splitting his focus is likely to have weakened his ability to recall information and its source.

“Even a couple of minutes is enough for people’s memories of conversations to decay pretty significantly,” she said.

Prosecutors claimed Mr Keneally had made the statement with the knowledge it could be used to arrest and prosecute Mr Moore.

Mr McGirr refuted the claim, telling the court his client was following instructions when he gave the statement and he didn’t expect it would lead to criminal prosecution.

“Clearly we concede my client has made a mistake in terms of his recall in this matter, which is compounded by the fact that he put it in an intelligence report,” he said.

Yet he maintained there was “no real smoking gun” that explained why Mr Keneally would have intentionally made a false statement against Mr Moore, whom he didn’t know, nor did Mr Keneally have any connection to the Goulburn Police officer.

Under cross examination, Constable Keneally vehemently denied that making the statement would help advance his career. Indeed, he said the only way to gain promotion as a constable was accruing years of service.

The matter has been adjourned for decision on 21 November 2023.