A Newcastle father will receive a damages payout for wrongful police prosecution seven years after he was cleared of murdering an aboriginal convicted rapist home invader.
Ben Batterham, 42, made a citizen’s arrest when Ricky Slater, 34, broke into his house in Hamilton at 3am while high on methamphetamine in March 2016, and was charged with murder and manslaughter after the 118kg burglar suffered three heart attacks and died in hospital.
Slater, who had served six years in jail for the violent rape of a 16-year-old girl in a home invasion in South Tamworth in 2009 and had a long criminal record, entered through Mr Batterham’s daughter’s bedroom and was then chased down the street, tackled and put in a headlock.
Slater lost consciousness during the struggle, while Mr Batterham was bitten twice, had a tooth chipped and suffered a cheekbone injury, and then spent two months in a maximum security prison after being refused bail.
Mr Batterham was acquitted by a jury in 2019, and Supreme Court Judge Desmond Fagan found the decision to prosecute was “unreasonable” based on the homeowner’s actions and on the basis of medical reports indicated the cardiac arrests were caused by a heart condition developed due to Slater’s drug use.
“Mr Batterham acted lawfully and reasonably in chasing Ricky Slater when he found him intruding in his home and stealing property,” Justice Fagan said at the time.
“He acted lawfully in first calling the police and then restraining Slater until officers arrived.
“In my view, the decision to charge Mr Batterham would have been unreasonable even if the prosecution had been in possession of only the evidence that had emerged by the end of the committal [hearing].”
Judge Fagan gave Mr Batterham a certificate of costs allowing him to apply for costs, where were estimated at about $1 million at the time, and Mr Batterham then lodged a civil claim for damages that resulted in a confidential settlement on Thursday, ABC News reported.
Mr Batterham’s solicitor Peter O’Brien said the amount agreed upon could not disclosed, but that he hoped it would prevent the authorities from pursuing prosecutions with no prospects of success.
“For Ben Batterham, it has been a long and torturous process to have been charged, then to have been acquitted,” Mr O’Brien said.
“To have now settled a suit against the state in relation to the manner in which he was prosecuted, that’s been a long and arduous process for him, and hopefully now he can move on with his life.
“It’s a very good example of why prosecution authorities need to exercise the discretion to not proceed and to not bill proceedings that are inevitably doomed, as this one was.”
Header image: Left, Ben Batterham (60 Minutes). Right, Ricky Slater (Facebook).
