EXCLUSIVE
A convicted drug-addicted felon caught trespassing while intoxicated has been awarded $120,000 in damages after a judge found a police officer slipped a finger into her vagina during an illegal search.
Tahnee Lee Kellie, 38, had not slept after a night of alcohol and amphetamines when she and a friend decided to break into an apartment in Darwin on August 22, 2020.
She stole several items, including a Mac laptop and a GoPro camera, before fleeing the scene by climbing a balcony into an adjacent apartment, where she was arrested while hiding under a barbecue cover.
Kellie was taken to the police guardhouse in Palmerston where a female officer allegedly inserted ‘one or two’ fingers into her vagina after suspecting she was hiding drugs or jewellery internally.
The officer claimed Kellie – who has 16 pages of previous convictions, including more than 30 property or dishonesty offences – made up the allegations and maintained she only felt the inside of the burglar’s legs.
However, a local court judge rejected police accounts of events based on CCTV footage of the incident and ruled last December that the state must pay Kellie damages.
In his decision, the judge said that while Kellie generally lacked credibility, they found that the circumstances surrounding the incident suggested that, in this case, she was telling the truth and the officer had lied.
But now the Northern Territory government has lodged an appeal, claiming the judge failed to fully take into account Kellie’s lack of credibility.
Tahnee Lee Kellie, 38, was awarded $120,000 after a court ruled that a police officer illegally searched her internally at the Palmerston watch house (pictured)
According to court documents filed last month, the saga unfolded when Kellie and a friend, after a night of drug-fueled binge, decided to break into a fourth-floor unit in Stuart Park.
The couple opened a window, allowing them to reach inside the house and unlock the front door, before entering.
The man was spotted by residents and fled the scene, before the occupants, who were home at the time, locked the door, unaware that Kellie was still in the house.
She quickly searched a bedroom, stuffing several items into a bag, before residents realized she was inside and locked her in the bedroom before calling police.
Kellie attempted to escape by climbing down a drainpipe and shoulder-butting two of the occupants who tried to stop her before climbing onto the balcony of a neighbouring apartment.
There she changed her clothes, leaving behind a pair of shorts and a pink earring.
When police finally arrived and stormed the second apartment, officers found Kellie hiding under a vinyl barbecue cover.
While being taken back to the police station, Kellie was abusive towards officers, resisted arrest and was caught on body camera telling lies to police officers, including that she had been attacked by residents and that one of them was having sex with her partner.
Back at the station, officers were heard via body camera discussing concerns that Kellie was hiding drugs, as she had done before, but that they could not conduct a cavity search as there was only one female officer present.
They decided that they would do a normal pat-down and then, if they felt it necessary later, they would call in a second female officer to do a cavity search.
CCTV footage shows the female officer reaching under Kellie’s skirt, before shouting “Oh, don’t do that!” and then walking away from the officer.
Pictured: Duke Street in Stuart Park, where Kellie was arrested
Kellie then put her head on the counter and started crying, saying, “There’s no need to stick your finger in my private parts.”
The footage then captured the officer changing his gloves and then telling another officer: “I don’t think he has any underwear on” and “I don’t think he’s hiding anything.”
She was also recorded speaking to a fellow officer later at the guardhouse, where she referred to “that sneaky slip of the finger” and both officers laughed.
In an affidavit, police said they “absolutely did not” touch Kellie’s vagina and claimed it was impossible because her skirt had bunched up during the search, separating her gloved hand from the robber’s private parts.
Police also claimed she was laughing with her partner because she was “upset” by Kellie’s allegations.
However, the judge rejected the police’s claims, finding that she changed her gloves and made the “offensive and disturbing comment” to her colleague because he conducted the illegal internal search.
He also reasoned that the officer thought Kellie was not wearing underwear because his finger had slipped past her thong into her vagina.
“The police had reason to suspect that the complainant may have concealed jewellery and drugs in her vagina. Legal assistant Shepherd knew that her colleagues had this suspicion,” the judge said in his conclusions.
‘While I have serious overall doubts about the plaintiff’s credibility, the surrounding evidence is more than sufficient to overcome that doubt and cause me to find in favor of the plaintiff.’
The judge also noted that for the internal search to be completed legally, a court order was needed and it had to be conducted by a doctor, not simply with another female police officer present, as the officer had thought.
The Local Court judge found the officer had lied, but the Northern Territory has lodged an appeal to have the matter re-examined (file image)
Kellie was charged and later pleaded guilty to a number of crimes related to the incident, including use of weapons of mass destruction, unlawful entry into a dwelling, burglary and possession of methamphetamine.
She was sentenced to three years in prison, with a minimum sentence of two years.
In its appeal, the Northern Territory Government argued that the Local Court judge gave inadequate reasons for relying on Kellie’s testimony and her recorded behaviour during the incident.
The state says insufficient consideration was given to the fact that Kellie was found to have told lies during her arrest, including claims that officers were using excessive force, even though there was no evidence of that.
Instead, they argued that the judge placed too much emphasis on the conduct and body language of Kellie and the officer, as seen in uniforms and CCTV footage.
“The lies (Kellie made) were not mere falsehoods but elaborate and sophisticated lies accompanied by supportive behavioral changes,” the state wrote in its appeal.
‘She told persecutory lies, falsely alleged abuse against her and did so on multiple occasions. She did so to distract and manipulate others… the allegation against (the police) was a lie introduced to manipulate her into searching the defendant’s groin less thoroughly.
‘Their behavior changed to support the truth of their lies, and consequently, any behavioral change or emotional outburst in relation to the central issue was equally consistent with lying or telling a falsehood.’
The appeal application was heard in the Supreme Court last month, where Acting Judge Trevor Riley found the local court judge’s reasons for the decision were inadequate.
AJ Riley granted the Northern Territory Government the right to appeal the case, and the matter will now be brought before the Local Court for further consideration at a later date.
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