NT Police have refused to say if the executive will take disciplinary action against a veteran officer in Professional and Ethical Standards Command, who was found guilty of swindling $200 from his ex-wife in exchange for family photos from him, and who a judge also found had lied to police who were investigating him.

Constable First Class David Robert Trenerry, 46, pleaded not guilty in Darwin Local Court to one count of obtaining benefit by deception, but was found guilty last Thursday.

According to multiple police sources, he has been working in the PESC, a section which investigates and oversees all matters involving police – including off-duty officers – in relation to complaints by the public, alleged internal disciplinary issues such as a breach of policy and potential crimes, which in the policy document includes the example of fraud.

Then-NT Police media manager Rob Cross did not issue a public press release about the charge against Trenerry last August, as police routinely do as part of the agency’s transparency guidelines, which state that “at the stage of an internal investigation whereby a determination is made that there is likely a serious disciplinary and/or criminal offence committed, this information will be communicated to the public via media release and published on the NTPFES website”.

The charges, but not the identity of the officer, were sent out in an internal police broadcast on August 4 or 5, a police source told the NT Independent.

On August 9, Mr Cross issued a press release about a female police officer who was charged with assault. Her charges had not yet been listed with the court on the day it was issued, but Constable Trenerry’s had been. On August 11, Mr Cross published another press release about a female police employee who was charged with two counts of disclosing confidential information.

At the time, one source said Constable Trenerry was moved from general duties to the new post in the weeks leading up to the charge, while a second source said they understood he was charged and given the new job in professional standards in the same week.

It is understood Constable Trenerry is friends with former chief minister Michael Gunner.

While giving evidence in the Kumanjayi Walker coronial inquiry NT Police Assistant Commissioner Bruce Porter said: “…Police are the custodian of integrity and we need to have the trust of the community in everything that we do…integrity is the core to being a police officer. So we are the ones that have to demonstrate integrity and honesty at all times, as per our oath…”

Justice Thomasin Opie found him guilty of obtaining benefit by deception last Thursday and fined him $200, but did not record a conviction for a scam in which he duped his wife to pay him $200 for a fake repair of his computer which held family photos she wanted copies of.

Justice Opie said it was “uncontested that the defendant knowingly made many false representations” including that the computer was malfunctioning, that the computer required extensive repairs and that he could not afford to fix the computers. He, at one point, also told her the photos had been destroyed.

The judge said the “deception was clearly intentional” and that Trennery had said in his police interview the computer was working fine at the time his ex requested the photos in late November 2021, and that he had actually paid Leading Edge Computers to install a new expensive solid state drive in June.

“He clearly did not require the complainants contribution of $200 to fix the computer to access photos,” she said.

Justice Opie said that in January, Trennery had asked Leading Edge Computers for an invoice for the work. The company’s evidence was that they provided a quote document and Justice Opie said Trenney then tampered with it so his ex partner would infer it was an invoice and emailed it to her with his bank details.

“He took various steps to ensure his false representation would be acted upon,” she said.

“She was asked in the examination in chief, prior to sending the money, would you have sent money if you had thought the computer was repaired in June 2021?

“Her response was an emphatic no.

“In chief, she stated that she believed that she was contributing money to repair the computer so that the photos could be accessed. She said that she would not have contributed money for a mere upgrade to the defendant’s computer, as this she believed, was a discretionary purchase rather than one that was necessary to access the photos.”

Justice Opie said in his interview Trennery said he had paid $900 to fix the computer.

“She wanted something off the computer that we shared and it cost me $909 to get my stuff back and her stuff,” Justice Opie said Trennery had said in the interview.

“If I hadn’t got the computer fixed, all of it would have been gone. She agreed to pay half. So I don’t see what the issue is there.”

Justice Opie said defence lawyer Peter Maley said that the defendant’s computer required fixing during the marital breakdown, the accused was not deceptive as to the work required to fix the computer was the amount that had been charged to the complainant, and the accused held a genuine belief that he was entitled to that.

And finally, that the accused did not gain a benefit as he merely received funds to the value of half the amount required to repay his computer.

“It’s difficult to see how the defendant would have honestly believed that he had a right to the two hundred dollars,” she said.

The judge said the computer was purchased in 2015 primarily for the defendant’s use and he changed the password in October 2020 to prevent his ex using it. In April 2021, the couple separated, and he had sole procession of the computer from June, and upgraded the hard drive of his own volition and did not discuss the matter with his ex-partner.

She said a Leading Edge Computer representative gave evidence the hard drive was not repaired but upgraded, and the original hard drive had been operational and the photos were accessible.

“He said that if the original hard drive had been faulty, it could not have been cloned to the solid state drive,” she said.

“He did concede that it may have been intermittently faulty, but certainly at the time that it was cloned the hard drive was operational.”

The judge said the only basis for the defendant’s claim for money from the complainant was that it was possible that if he had retained his original hard drive, rather than upgrading to the solid state drive, the computer may have been intermittently faulty at the time that the complainant subsequently wanted the photos and he therefore may not have been able to provide the photos.

“…The defendant’s lies and obfucations in his record of interview show that he did not hold the requisite belief [that he was entitled to the money],” she said.

“Of course, the evidence reveals that the defendant’s correspondence with the complainant was clearly designed to ensure that she did believe that the computer was currently broken and would need repair before the photos could be accessed.

“…The course of communications between the defendant and complainant suggests that far from exercising an honest claim of right, the defendant was in fact claiming the money as part of an exercise of control or retaliation in the context of an acrimonious marital breakdown.”

Mr Maley said Trenerry was a decorated policeman with an Australian Federal Police medal and a commendation for bravery from the NT Police commissioner.

He said he was involved in serious incidents in 2017 and now suffered PTSD, was the sole carer for his sick father, and this was his first offence which came amongst a “kaleidoscope of chaos”.

“It seems this is an aberration, in terms of the conduct, at a time in his life where he’s having some difficulties at work, going through a separation, he behaved badly,” he said.

“It’s just stupid things you say by text which, in the old days, you might think, but you would never instantaneously record it and send it in written form.

“He will be given a notice to show cause from the police service, he has to deal with that.”

Mr Maley said Trenerry would be given a show cause disciplinary notice from NT Police and it would be up to the commissioner or his representative if he was to be demoted or was to lose his job.

Justice Opie said she took into account Trennery’s positive character, his 15-years as a police officer, his lack of a criminal history, the small amount of money involved, and the extra-curial punishment that may come from the NT Police disciplinary process against him.

“I take into account the fact that this behaviour occurred at a very low point in your life by virtue of your marriage breakdown and may, or most likely would never have, otherwise occurred,” she said.

NT Police media Margaret McKeon did not respond to questions about whether he would face disciplinary action and would potentially lose his job, or if he would continue to work in professional standards.