Mr Jubelin, 57, who is one of Australia’s best known homicide detectives, has been accused of misconduct in his handling of the investigation into the disappearance of a three-year-old foster child, William Tyrrell.
Senior police believe he may have been abducted by a paedophile, or a paedophile ring.
Police now say the case against Mr Jubelin, who led the investigation for four years, must be heard in secret, lest it derail the work being done to find William.
NSW Police still believe that William can be found, or else that the perpetrator can be brought to justice.
Counsel for the Commissioner, Rod Bhalla, agreed in court that his application for total secrecy was “deeply unfortunate.”
“It is not a happy state of affairs, but we are where we are,” Mr Bhalla said.
“The commissioner doesn’t take lightly on the principle of open justice. It is an important principle. But it is necessary (to close the court) in this case.”
The court was told that the public may well be “outraged” by the level of child sex activity in the community, but this was no reason to suppress the statistics.
Gary Jubelin trial: Public would be ‘outraged’ to know how many sex offenders in the community
NoCookies | The Australian
