A breach of privacy case has been bought by a DV victim whose home address was deliberately passed on by a senior constable Neil Punchard who worked at the Queensland Police. He had accessed her address from the police QPrime database and sent it to her violent former husband joking to him ‘“Just tell her you know where she lives and leave it at that. Lol. She will flip,”
The victim given the pseudonym Julie was forced to move with her family immediately and is claiming costs and raising this as a serious breach of privacy. She is seeking compensation for her moving costs but claims that the breach has cost her ‘“much more than that”.
The Queensland police are not denying that the constable Punchard gave the information to her former husband but they do “however, dispute that it breached its obligations under the privacy principles in the information privacy act. In other words, it does not accept that it is responsible for the privacy violation.”
Julie said during her hearing in June that ‘“Now, this officer, Neil Punchard, is still in a job. He still has access to the police computer. And I have had to move … [and] cross my fingers like this and hope he doesn’t do it again.’
Access an article regarding this case here.
