June 02, 2010

World First: Prosecution over murder scene photos on Facebook

AN IPSWICH man hired to clean a murder scene took sickening photos of the blood-stained home and posted them online.

Cain Pohe McGee in a pose from his Facebook page.

QT.com.au

AN IPSWICH man hired to clean a murder scene took sickening photos of the blood-stained home and posted them online.

Cain Pohe McGee, 23, was offered one day's work by a recruitment agency to clean up the Raceview home where Vicki Ann Hunter was murdered last month.

But when he had a moment alone McGee snapped four photos on his mobile phone and posted them online.

Ipswich Magistrates Court heard the disturbing photos showed areas in and around the home including the scene where Mrs Hunter's body was discovered in a pool of blood.

Police received a complaint later that day about photos of the crime scene on McGee's Facebook page, which is visible to the public, and went to his Sadliers Crossing home.

Prosecutor Senior Constable Brad Dick said McGee opened the door and immediately said: "I think I know what this is about – it's about photos on Facebook."

The officers told McGee to remove the photos online and then watched while McGee deleted them.

In a police interview McGee admitted his friends had asked him to take photos while at the crime scene.

"When asked he stated that he did not think about the effects of putting images on Facebook," Snr Const Dick said.

"He stated he did not consider the effect that these photos could have on relatives that view them and neither did he consider the ramifications on the investigation."

But McGee admitted the images could be offensive.

Mrs Hunter was killed in her Sonter Street home in Raceview on the night of May 6 and no charges have yet been laid over her murder.

Police forensic officers examined the crime scene for more than a week before the cleaning crew was called.

The 55-year-old received multiple "traumatic" injuries in the attack but police would not specify if any weapon was used.

Her husband Ian Hunter, also 55, was found upstairs in the two-storey brick home with a stab wound to his hand and other injuries to his head.

Police are still hunting Mrs Hunter's killer and are looking for a man with a tribal tattoo on his left calf who was seen in the area on the night or the following morning.

McGee pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to cause offence and was ordered to perform 120 hours of community service.

Magistrate Virginia Sturgess described McGee's actions as "perverse" and "distasteful". Defence lawyer Matthew Fairclough said his client was remorseful and pleaded guilty at his first court appearance.

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COMMENT: Consumer Watch spokesman Paul Tully described the prosecution as unusual but necessary
in the wake of offensive and outrageous material being placed on the internet.  Magistrate Sturgess
should be congratulated for being the first judicial officer in the world to take a stand over this sort of
nefarious  activity.  The internet should be a world resource for the free dissemination of information not
a free-for-all  for every sort of perversion to be posted with no controls whatsoever.

PaulGTully@gmail.com