EXCLUSIVE
A convicted felon who was a drug addict and was caught breaking into a home during a meth party has been awarded $120,000 in damages after a judge ruled that an officer inserted a finger into her vagina during an illegal search.
Tahnee Lee Kellie, 38, had not slept after a night of drink and amphetamines when she and a male friend decided to break into a Darwin apartment on August 22, 2020.
She stole several items, including a Mac laptop and a GoPro camera, before climbing over a balcony into an adjacent apartment, where she was arrested while hiding under a barbecue cover.
Kellie was taken to Palmerston police station, where a female officer reportedly inserted ‘one or two’ fingers into her vagina because she suspected she was hiding drugs or jewellery.
The female officer claimed that Kellie, who has 16 pages of convictions to her name, including more than 30 property and dishonesty offences, had made up the allegations and claimed she had only groped the insides of the thief’s legs.
However, a local court judge rejected the officer’s version of events based on CCTV footage of the incident and ruled in December that the state must pay Kellie damages.
The judge ruled in his ruling that Kellie was generally not credible, but that the circumstances surrounding the incident indicated that in this case she was telling the truth and that the officer had lied.
But now the Northern Territory government has filed an appeal, claiming the judge failed to take Kellie’s lack of credibility into account.
Tahnee Lee Kellie, 38, was awarded $120,000 after a court ruled an officer illegally frisked her at the Palmerston watchhouse (pictured)
According to documents filed in court last month, the story unfolded when Kellie and a friend decided to break into a fourth-floor apartment in Stuart Park after a night of drug use.
The pair pried open a window, allowing them to reach inside and unlock the front door, before slipping inside.
The man was spotted by the residents and fled before the residents – who were home at the time – locked the door. They did not know that Kellie was still in the house.
She quickly rummaged through a bedroom and stuffed various items into a bag. The residents realized she was inside, locked her in the bedroom and called the police.
Kellie attempted to escape by climbing down a drain pipe, charging onto her shoulder at two residents who tried to hold her back, then climbing onto the balcony of a neighboring apartment.
There she changed, leaving behind only a pair of shorts and a pink earring.
When police finally arrived and raided the second apartment, officers found Kellie hiding under a vinyl barbecue cover.
While being taken back to the police station, Kellie became aggressive towards the officers, resisted arrest and was caught on bodycam telling the officers lies, including that she had been attacked by neighbours and that one of them had sex with her partner.
Back at the station, we heard officers on bodycam discussing their concerns that Kellie was hiding drugs – as she had done before – but they were unable to search an orifice because there was only one female officer present.
They decided that they would conduct a normal frisk and, if necessary, then call in a second female officer to conduct a body scan.
CCTV footage shows the police officer putting her hand up Kellie’s skirt, screaming, “Ow, don’t do that!” before walking away from the officer.
Pictured: Duke Street in Stuart Park, where Kellie was arrested
Kellie put her head on the counter and started to cry. She said, “You don’t have to put your finger in my genitals.”
The footage shows the officer changing her gloves and later telling another officer, “I don’t think she’s wearing underwear” and “I don’t think she’s hiding anything.”
Later she was also filmed talking to a colleague in the guardhouse, talking about ‘that cunning finger mistake’ and both officers laughed.
In an affidavit, the officer said she “absolutely did not” touch Kellie’s vagina, claiming it was impossible because her skirt had ridden up during the search, preventing her gloved hand from reaching the thief’s private parts.
The officer also claimed she laughed with her colleague because she was “upset” by Kellie’s accusations.
However, the judge rejected the officer’s claims, ruling that she had changed her gloves and made a “disturbing, offensive comment” to her colleague, as she had indeed carried out the illegal internal search.
He also reasoned that the officer thought Kellie was not wearing underwear because her finger had slipped into her vagina through her thong.
“The police had reasonable suspicion that the plaintiff had jewellery and drugs hidden in her vagina. PA Shepherd knew that her colleagues suspected this,” the judge said in their findings.
“While I have serious doubts about the plaintiff’s credibility overall, the surrounding evidence is more than sufficient to dispel those doubts and allow me to reach a ruling in plaintiff’s favor.”
The judge also noted that a court order was required for the internal search to be lawful and that the search had to be conducted by a doctor, and not in the presence of another female officer, as the officer had thought.
The local court judge ruled that the officer had lied, but the Northern Territory has appealed to have the case retried (stock image)
Kellie was charged and later pleaded guilty to a series of offences in connection with the incident, including criminal damage to property, unlawful entry into a dwelling house, commercial robbery and possession of methamphetamine.
She was sentenced to three years in prison, with a minimum sentence of two years.
In their appeal, the Northern Territory Government argued that the Local Court judge had failed to provide sufficient grounds for reliance on Kellie’s evidence and her conduct during the incident.
The state says there was insufficient consideration given to the fact that Kellie told lies during her arrest, including claiming that officers used excessive force, despite no evidence to support this claim.
Instead, they argued that the judge placed too much emphasis on Kellie’s and the officer’s behavior and body language, as seen in body camera and surveillance footage.
The lies [Kellie made] “These were not mere untruths, but elaborate, sophisticated lies accompanied by supporting behavioral changes,” the state wrote in its appeal.
“She told persecutory lies, she falsely reported abuse against her and she did so multiple times. She did so to distract and manipulate others… the accusation against [the cop] was a lie that was introduced to manipulate [her] to examine the respondent’s groin less thoroughly.
‘Her behaviour changed to support the truth of her lies and consequently any change in behaviour or emotional outburst in relation to the substance of the matter was equally consistent with lying or telling an untruth.’
The appeal was heard by the High Court last month, where Acting Justice Trevor Riley ruled that the local judge’s reasoning for the decision was inadequate.
AJ Riley gave the Northern Territory Government the right to appeal the case. The case will now be heard again in the local court at a later date.