'Just do it': Detective says Gary Jubelin told him to record phone call without warrant
A homicide detective who worked on the strike force investigating William Tyrrell's disappearance says he was "in shock" when he was taken into a room at NSW Police headquarters in 2017 and instructed to record a phone call with a person of interest without a warrant.
William, 3, was wearing a Spider-Man suit when he vanished from his foster-grandmother's home at Kendall on the NSW Mid North Coast on September 12, 2014.
Gary Jubelin arrives at court on Friday.Credit:AAP
Gary Jubelin, 57, who led the investigation for four years, is facing a hearing at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court accused of illegally recording four conversations with Paul Savage, a person of interest during the case.
Mr Jubelin has pleaded not guilty and says he had a legitimate operational purpose for recording Mr Savage.
Giving evidence on Friday, detective senior constable Greg Gallyot - who was involved in the investigation from 2015 to 2018 - said he was at police headquarters in Parramatta on November 3, 2017 when he was called into a room by Mr Jubelin and found another senior officer there.
Mr Gallyot said Mr Jubelin told him he was going to put his phone on loudspeaker to talk to Paul Savage "and I want you to record that conversation".
Crown prosecutor Philip Hogan asked if there was a telephone intercept warrant in place at the time.
"I knew there wasn't," Mr Gallyot said. "We were all well aware of dates of warrants, when they were in place and when they weren't in place."
Mr Gallyot said when he was first told to record the call he was "in shock" and looked at the other officer, then looked at Mr Jubelin.
"He gave me what I would call a serious or stern look with a furrowed brow and stared back to me," Mr Gallyot said. "He said 'just do it' ... I sat down, got my phone out [and] put it in record mode."
Mr Gallyot said the call went for five minutes and 29 seconds and when it finished, he stopped recording. He said Mr Jubelin told him, "don't save that anywhere".
"Did you save the call anywhere?" Mr Hogan said.
"Yes I did," Mr Gallyot said. "I saved it [on the computer] ... I did it as soon as I returned back to my desk."
Mr Gallyot said when he heard the words "just do it" he was in fear of career jeopardy and feared being bullied, intimidated or belittled by Mr Jubelin.
"On what basis did you fear that Mr Jubelin would belittle you in front of other members of the team?" Mr Hogan asked.
"I've seen him do it to other members for less," Mr Gallyot said.
Under cross-examination by Mr Jubelin's barrister Margaret Cunneen SC, Mr Gallyot agreed he did not verbally protest to making the recording by saying something like "I don't want to" or "do it yourself". He said he protested through his body language and had a "very concerned look on my face".
Ms Cunneen suggested Mr Jubelin did not say "just do it".
"He absolutely said that, yes," Mr Gallyot said.
Mr Gallyot said he knew what he was doing was wrong and agreed it was fear that drove him to record the call.
"Why didn't fear stop you from obeying the instruction of 'don't save it'?" Ms Cunneen said.
"I didn't believe Mr Jubelin would find it [the recording] and know I disobeyed him," Mr Gallyot said.
He said a year later, on October 28, 2018, Mr Jubelin handed him an iPhone which contained two recordings of Mr Savage. He said Mr Jubelin told him to write a synopsis of the conversations so they could be included in a brief of evidence for the coronial inquest into William's disappearance.
"There was a discussion where Mr Jubelin said 'just do a synopsis, don't do it word for word. If anyone asks we'll just say we obtained it from the listening devices'," Mr Gallyot said.
He said he believes those synopses were then included in the brief of evidence for the inquest.
Mr Jubelin, a former detective chief inspector, quit NSW Police last year.
The hearing continues.