NT Director of Public Prosecutions Lloyd Babb has refused to answer questions over why his office pursued charges against a Nine News reporter for allegedly impersonating a police officer with only the testimony of a witness described by the judge as “evasive” and “unreliable”.

The charges were thrown out of court earlier this month in the latest embarrassing prosecutorial failure for the Office of the DPP, which has seen repeated high-profile cases dismissed for a lack of evidence after they start.

That includes a failed July prosecution against an NT Police media employee for allegedly disclosing confidential information that saw the charges dropped mid-trial by the prosecution, on the grounds of insufficient evidence.

Police and the DPP have refused to comment on whether the failed prosecutions were malicious and why they did not appear to be tested before proceeding to trial.

The latest prosecution blunder involved Nine News reporter Georgie Dickerson, who was found not guilty of impersonating a police officer by Chief Judge Elizabeth Morris, who questioned the credibility of the prosecution’s star witness and why the DPP had proceeded with the charges on the grounds of a baseless allegation that Dickerson lied.

The prosecution alleged the 26-year-old Darwin police reporter told a service station supervisor on October 17, 2022, that she was from the NT Police to obtain CCTV footage of Blain MLA Mark Turner making a citizen’s arrest outside the Holtze United Service Station the night before. But following a two-day local court hearing and a short deliberation, Judge Morris said she found the case had failed and Dickerson was not guilty.

The court was played CCTV footage with no sound, which reportedly showed Dickerson going into the service station, while engaging in a 15-20 second conversation with supervisor Sameer Devkota, who points to the side and lets her view the footage from behind the counter.

The ABC reported that under cross-examination Mr Devkota said he’d been expecting police to visit to get a copy of the footage, and he asked Dickerson where she was from.

“She said NT Police,” he reportedly told the court.

The court heard the day after Dickerson’s visit, Mr Turner was also allowed to view the CCTV footage by Mr Devkota after showing his government ID. While he was there, now-retired NT Police officer Wayne Tilly arrived seeking a copy of the footage, and told the court he was told “someone else had told staff they were a police officer” to get the footage.

The ABC reported that in her closing submission, Crown prosecutor Tamara Grealy said Mr Devkota’s evidence was “critical” to the prosecution case and that his evidence that Dickerson told him she was “from NT Police” was consistent throughout cross-examinations.

“The defendant is a journalist who is keen to get to the bottom of stories of public interest,” Ms Grealy said.

“In the crown’s submission, it’s not a far cry for somebody who is thorough and keen and willing to get to the bottom of something, to use my friend’s phrase, to tell a silly little lie to get a story.”

But the NT News reported Chief Judge Morris said it was a “big call” to allege a journalist would risk her career for that footage.

“Everyone who wants to be really competent in their job, it’s a little step into illegality? To telling a lie? To a criminal offence?” Ms Morris asked Ms Grealy.

“Are you a thorough lawyer? Would you tell a lie?”

Defence lawyer Mary Chalmers said Mr Devkota had “issues going to credibility and reliability” as a witness, and in the footage he could be seen “pondering” the decision to allow Dickerson to see the CCTV footage, which she said he would not have done if he thought she was actually a police officer.

She also said Mr Devkota had been in trouble for breaching the company’s policy of only giving CCTV footage to law enforcement authorities, so had lied to police and his manager about it.

Judge Morris said in response: “For many people the most serious thing that can happen to them is the loss of their job, and certainly I can’t dismiss that may have been active in his mind:”

She said the entire prosecution case had essentially come down to three words from an “evasive” and “unreliable” Mr Devkota, with no corroborating evidence, and she could not exclude evidence that Mr Devkota had misheard what Dickerson said, the NT News reported.

“When I consider all of the evidence, it is clear that at the time of that particular exchange Mr Devkota was distracted,” she reportedly said.

“He’s busy, he is also wearing at least one headphone, and I think he’s speaking to Ms Dickerson through Plexiglas.”

Judge Morris said it was “extraordinary that Mr Devkota claims … that he was not aware that she was not a member of the police force”, as there was “no evidence of a fake badge, no uniform or appearance of authority”.

Dickerson is currently seeking costs for the failed prosecution. Nine News declined to comment.

Babb refuses to explain why his office keeps pursuing cases with flimsy evidence

Mr Babb was asked by the NT Independent via email why his office pursued the Dickerson charges with only one unreliable witness and no corroborating evidence.

He was also asked if anyone in the NT Police pressured his office to pursue the charges, if he accepted that it appeared to be yet another failed malicious prosecution, whether he personally oversaw the case or tested it before proceeding to trial and whether a review needs to be conducted into the ongoing failures in his office.

He did not respond.

In March 2022, former NT Police officer Zach Rolfe was acquitted of murder over the shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker. It was later revealed the prosecution’s use-of-force expert was unreliable and had noted conflicts of interest who was put on the stand despite the previous DPP recommending against using him. Other “expert” evidence that was used against Mr Rolfe to bring the Supreme Court trial was allegedly tampered with by a detective, that is currently the subject of an investigation led by Victoria Police.

This past March, former children’s commissioner Colleen Gwynne had abuse of office charges dropped by the DPP just days after the trial started, again, citing insufficient evidence.

In July, crown prosecutors also dropped their case against NT Police media adviser Chelsea Rogers for allegedly disclosing confidential information and unlawfully accessing data to gain benefit, in the middle of the trial citing lack of sufficient evidence.

The NT Police also did not respond to questions, including if anyone had pressured the DPP to pursue the Dickerson case with insufficient evidence, whether police were actively engaging in malicious investigations, what all of the failed prosecutions will end up costing taxpayers and whether NT Police would be reviewing its practices.