Vic: Jury in police murder case sent home for Christmas
By Stuart Walsh
MELBOURNE, Dec 24 AAP - The Supreme Court jury considering verdicts in the trial oftwo men charged with the murders of two police officers has been sent home for a Christmasbreak.
The seven women and five men broke off deliberations at noon (AEDT) to rejoin theirfamilies until Boxing Day when they resume their duties.
The jury retired to consider their verdicts at 10.30am (AEDT) yesterday following atrial which began on August 14.
Bandali Michael Debs, 49, of Narre Warren, and Jason Joseph Roberts, 22, of Cranbourne,have pleaded not guilty to the murders of Sergeant Gary Silk, 35, and Senior ConstableRod Miller, 34.
The two policemen were gunned down on August 16 1998, during a surveillance operationset up to trap two men believed responsible for a series of armed robberies.
The two officers were shot after pulling over a suspect car just after midnight duringa stakeout of the Silky Emperor Chinese restaurant in Moorabbin in Melbourne's south east.
The Crown alleges Debs and Roberts also committed the armed robberies.
Neither of the two men gave evidence during the trial but through their barristerssaid they were not at the scene of the shootings.
The Crown says that secretly-recorded conversations of the two pointed to their guilt.
The Crown also stated that forensic tests proved glass windscreen fragments found atthe scene came from a car belonging to one of Deb's daughters.
The defence has suggested that the glass fragments could have been planted.
At the start of the trial, 15 jurors were empanelled to guard against the jury beingreduced to an unworkable number through sickness or other emergencies which might strikeduring a long trial.
Before deliberations began, three of the jurors who spent the past four months hearingthe case were released from their duties in a random selection of names.
AAP sew/clr/csd/sb
KEYWORD: DEBS NIGHTLEAD
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