Campbelltown highway patrol officer Dennis Hoyn has been found guilty of four counts of wilful misconduct in public office after he illegally accessed personal and private information on the NSW Police Force's internal database at the request of friends and passed that information on the members of the public.
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He was found not guilty of two more counts of the same charge in Wollongong District Court on Tuesday, just before 3pm.
It can be revealed for the first time that one of the people who asked Hoyn to look up information was convicted Wollongong drug dealer Goran Despotovski.
Despotovski had been due to stand trial in conjunction with Hoyn on his own charge of making a collusive agreement with a member of the NSW Police however entered a plea of guilty to on Monday last week before the trial began.
His identity was suppressed for the duration of Hoyn's trial so as not to affect Hoyn's right to a fair hearing.
Meanwhile, jurors took less than five hours to determine Hoyn's fate, after hearing four days worth of evidence.
Hoyn shook his head as the guilty verdicts were read out, then hung his face in his hands as Judge Andrew Haesler thanked jurors for their service.
The Crown had argued Hoyn acted as a "lone ranger" when he looked up confidential information on police database COPS (Computerised Operational Policing System) to look up the registration details of 10 vehicles and information on three individuals at the request of civilian friends in 2018. He then gave that information to those requesting it.
The Crown claims Hoyn's actions were not done within the course of his duties, making them "unlawful and unjustified".
Hoyn denies any wrongdoing, claiming he was acting within his role as a police officer.
The jury acquitted him of two incidents in which he accessed the data in February and in early July at the request of two friends.
However, he was found guilty of accessing the data and disseminating it "without reasonable cause or justification" in late July, November and December.
The court heard Hoyn met Despotovski at the Corrimal Hotel on the evening of December 5.
The pair got talking and Despotovski asked Hoyn is he was a "copper".
Hoyn said Despotovski, who said he was a car wholesaler, told him he had lent $10,000 to a friend, who had passed it onto another person.
Despotovski asked Hoyn to look up the eventual recipient of the money to confirm if he lived at Gosford as he was "worried about his money".
Hoyn told police during an interview after his arrest that he "thought about it" all morning while he at work and decided to looked up the name Despotovski had given him because he "felt sorry" for Despotovski.
Hoyn then used his phone to take a photo of the name and address of the man and showed Despotovski later that night at the pub.
Despotovski then paid for several drinks for both of them throughout the night and let Hoyn use his money to place bets.
During his interview, Hoyn called his actions "dumb", "a silly mistake" and "a massive error".
"The Crown says this is the accused acknowledging his unlawful accessing of COPS and disseminating the information to a member of the public," Crowe prosecutor Justine Hopper said in her closing statement to the jury on Monday.
"Feeling sorry for someone doesn't justify unlawfully accessing COPS and disseminating information to a member of the public.
"He abused his position in public office and took matters into his own hands, he acted as a lone ranger. He did so without reasonable cause, accessing personal information through COPS and provided that to other members of public."
Defence barrister Nicholas Moir had urged the jury to acquit Hoyn, suggesting they couldn't be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that he'd acted "without reasonable cause or justification".
"The Crown suggests he was a lone ranger. I don't think that's something that's unacceptable in many ways because what in all of this does the accused say was his motivation in doing this:? To help people out," he said.
"Because really, if it wasn't money and it wasn't power, and there's no evidence of those, what else was it?
"He believed he could indeed access the police computer to help people in a broader sense. He was in a position to lawfully help people. He believed he was doing his duty."
Jurors were told the find Hoyn guilty of the charges, they had to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that he improperly accessed personal information on COPS and disseminated it to a member of the public "without reasonable cause or justification".
Jurors must also be satisfied that Hoyn's actions were so serious that they "merit criminal punishment".
Hoyn's bail was continued. He will face sentencing on October 2.
Despotvoski, who remains in custody, will face court on Friday for his sentencing date to be fixed.
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