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A man who tried to sue the state of Victoria and 23 serving and former police for alleged persecution over seven years has failed in his bid for millions of dollars in compensation after a judge described his accusations as "unsubstantiated", "bizarre" and "absurd".
But Lupco Slaveski has been awarded $28,300 after Supreme Court Justice Emilios Kyrou found that several officers had committed trespass when they raided Mr Slaveski's second-hand shop in Melbourne's north in December 2005.
The judge ordered the state to pay because the officers had made a genuine mistake about the scope of their powers.
Following what was the state's longest-running civil trial involving a self-represented litigant — 115 days — Mr Slaveski sought damages for assault and battery, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, defamation, trespass to land, trespass to goods, conversion, detinue and negligence.
The claims arose out of 13 incidents which occurred at his shop between September 8, 2000, and May 7, 2007, involving officers from Epping, Mill Park and Preston police stations.
In handing down his 655-page judgement today, Justice Kyrou said the trial had exceeded the time that was reasonably required to deal with the issues, largely because of Mr Slaveski's panic disorder and his lack of legal representation.
His wife, Snezana Slaveska, acted as his litigation guardian.
Justice Kyrou said that during the trial, Mrs Slaveska made "wide-ranging and unsubstantiated allegations, some of which were quite bizarre".
"A common theme running through her submissions and cross-examination was that the 23 police officers were corrupt and had participated in various conspiracies with their lawyers, other police officers, Mr Slaveski's former lawyers, municipal staff and others to destroy Mr Slaveski's businesses and reputation," Justice Kyrou said.
He added that she also suggested they wanted to "lock him up based on fabricated evidence and even to kill him".
"Another common theme was that the 23 police officers were responsible for every misfortune that has been visited upon Mr Slaveski since 8 September 2000," the judge said.
"Adverse events in Mr Slaveski's life, which had no apparent connection with each other, were attributed to the 23 officers."
The judge found that such allegations were a "figment of Mr Slaveski's vivid imagination".
He listed several claims to illustrate the "absurdity" of his contentions, which included claims that Mill Park detectives called themselves "the Carlton Crew" and "The Untouchables", the officers owned or had interests in the Epping Cash Converters store and conspired to take away his second-hand dealer's licence. He claimed the officers were jealous of him as a successful businessman and were "obsessed with him and so consumed by their desire to kill him or to fabricate evidence in order to have him convicted and locked up for a long time".
"When they went on interstate fishing holidays they spent their time plotting against him," Mr Slaveski also alleged, claiming that the officers distributed photographs of him to criminals so they could shoot him.
Mr Slaveski did not attend court for today's judgement.
But the judge criticised police for being unable to produce a number of relevant documents which had been lost, misplaced or destroyed in accordance with standard document destruction. Such processes, Justice Kyrou said, were "unacceptable".
He also highlighted deficiencies in Mr Slaveski's discovery of documents, which he said "left much to be desired" because he produced some critical material during, rather than before, the trial.
The parties will re-appear on a date to be fixed to discuss submissions on aggravated and exemplary damages, interest and costs.
But Lupco Slaveski has been awarded $28,300 after Supreme Court Justice Emilios Kyrou found that several officers had committed trespass when they raided Mr Slaveski's second-hand shop in Melbourne's north in December 2005.
The judge ordered the state to pay because the officers had made a genuine mistake about the scope of their powers.
Following what was the state's longest-running civil trial involving a self-represented litigant — 115 days — Mr Slaveski sought damages for assault and battery, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, defamation, trespass to land, trespass to goods, conversion, detinue and negligence.
The claims arose out of 13 incidents which occurred at his shop between September 8, 2000, and May 7, 2007, involving officers from Epping, Mill Park and Preston police stations.
In handing down his 655-page judgement today, Justice Kyrou said the trial had exceeded the time that was reasonably required to deal with the issues, largely because of Mr Slaveski's panic disorder and his lack of legal representation.
His wife, Snezana Slaveska, acted as his litigation guardian.
Justice Kyrou said that during the trial, Mrs Slaveska made "wide-ranging and unsubstantiated allegations, some of which were quite bizarre".
"A common theme running through her submissions and cross-examination was that the 23 police officers were corrupt and had participated in various conspiracies with their lawyers, other police officers, Mr Slaveski's former lawyers, municipal staff and others to destroy Mr Slaveski's businesses and reputation," Justice Kyrou said.
He added that she also suggested they wanted to "lock him up based on fabricated evidence and even to kill him".
"Another common theme was that the 23 police officers were responsible for every misfortune that has been visited upon Mr Slaveski since 8 September 2000," the judge said.
"Adverse events in Mr Slaveski's life, which had no apparent connection with each other, were attributed to the 23 officers."
The judge found that such allegations were a "figment of Mr Slaveski's vivid imagination".
He listed several claims to illustrate the "absurdity" of his contentions, which included claims that Mill Park detectives called themselves "the Carlton Crew" and "The Untouchables", the officers owned or had interests in the Epping Cash Converters store and conspired to take away his second-hand dealer's licence. He claimed the officers were jealous of him as a successful businessman and were "obsessed with him and so consumed by their desire to kill him or to fabricate evidence in order to have him convicted and locked up for a long time".
"When they went on interstate fishing holidays they spent their time plotting against him," Mr Slaveski also alleged, claiming that the officers distributed photographs of him to criminals so they could shoot him.
Mr Slaveski did not attend court for today's judgement.
But the judge criticised police for being unable to produce a number of relevant documents which had been lost, misplaced or destroyed in accordance with standard document destruction. Such processes, Justice Kyrou said, were "unacceptable".
He also highlighted deficiencies in Mr Slaveski's discovery of documents, which he said "left much to be desired" because he produced some critical material during, rather than before, the trial.
The parties will re-appear on a date to be fixed to discuss submissions on aggravated and exemplary damages, interest and costs.
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