Mate, your girlfriend was a bloke

[d]

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...001021,00.html

Mate, your girlfriend was a bloke

GARRICK Jacobson was in custody at Surry Hills police station when he apparently discovered his girlfriend used to be a man.

Within hours of being released on bail, he went to her apartment and started "belting the hell" out of her, Downing Centre Local Court heard yesterday.

The two police officers who allegedly revealed the information about his then partner's past are now charged with breaching privacy laws.

In a rare prosecution under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act, Constables Tyrone Stacey and Brendan Ritson have pleaded not guilty to unlawful disclosure of information.

The offence is punishable by up to two years' jail.

The court heard Jacobson, 26, was held in custody on September 24, 2006, after being arrested for suspected theft.

Stacey allegedly used the police computer system to access information about Jacobson's then girlfriend, Brigitte Fell, revealing her gender as male.

Ritson, who was looking over his colleague's shoulder, allegedly shouted to Jacobson: "You're rogering a bloke", the court has heard.

After Jacobson denied it, he was allegedly shown paperwork indicating her gender and told: "See, it's a guy."

As the officers defended the case yesterday, Ms Fell gave evidence that the incident "ruined my life".

She told the court she was born a male, undergoing gender reassignment surgery about 12 years ago "in London, and it cost a fortune".

Complete strangers subsequently told her it was "the best sex change we've ever seen", she said.

But Ms Fell did not share the information about her surgery with Jacobson, her boyfriend of about two months, because "he was temperamental enough".

Police were aware of other domestic violence incidents involving the pair in the two days prior to the assault, the court heard.

Ms Fell said she woke in the early hours of September 25 to find Jacobson in her Surry Hills apartment, threatening to kill her.

"Your fucking mates the cops told me you're a man - is it true?" he allegedly said.

Ms Fell said Jacobson then punched her repeatedly in the face.

"He was belting the hell out of me," she told the court.

She said she suffered concussion after falling over the balcony of her loft bedroom and woke up "covered in blood".

"My whole face was broken," she said.

Ms Fell spent several days in hospital after the attack, for which Jacobson is currently awaiting sentence in the District Court.

Ms Fell said she told only three or four of her "dearest friends" about her surgery but some police officers knew of it because she had sought their help after previous violent incidents.

The court heard that when Jacobson was brought back to the police station following the assault, he allegedly said he had gone to Ms Fell's apartment "to cut her hair off . . . she was a she-man".

[Tomfurbs]

jesus h christ. This is so wrong on so many levels. Fucking hell this is depressing! Can someone plz explain to me when it became ok to beat the shit out of people? And those fucking arsehole coppers should be in a paddywagon speeding to Wormwood Scrubs to get their ignorant arses fucked red and raw by some doofus called Big Crazy Lester.

I fucking hate this cuntry(sic) sometimes!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Falrune]

jesus h christ. This is so wrong on so many levels. Fucking hell this is depressing! Can someone plz explain to me when it became ok to beat the shit out of people? And those fucking arsehole coppers should be in a paddywagon speeding to Wormwood Scrubs to get their ignorant arses fucked red and raw by some doofus called Big Crazy Lester.

I fucking hate this cuntry(sic) sometimes!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can't blame the country. This is how one individual chose to respond. Obviously, the perpetrator needs to be penalized to some extent and the police may also share a fraction of responsibility; and although the victim may also have some responsibility in the initial deception, she was not responsible for the criminal events that followed.

[Wombat]

I fucking hate this cuntry(sic) sometimes!!!!!!!!!!!!

Huh? That is Surry Hills Sydney, Australia mate, not Surry, England.

Ironic that on March 1st it will be the site of the biggest annual gay and lesbian pride march in the world (which includes transgenders too, of course... )

[Marinus]

It's so sad to see that those coppers used that guy to beat the shit out of her. But I think that this bloke should go down to jail for a long time, no matter what triggered his rage!

[Wombat]

It's so sad to see that those coppers used that guy to beat the shit out of her. But I think that this bloke should go down to jail for a long time, no matter what triggered his rage!

He has got prior form, so he will go down for a good stretch. Those plods will be lucky if they keep their jobs, but then again New South Wales police are so corrupt they will probably put them somewhere quite until it blows over...

[Wombat]

Here is an image of Brigette, courtesy of the Sydney Herald.

Edit:Sorry, Daily Telegraph was the source of the 'rhyming' headline.

[youcancallmeclaire]

I love non-american culture, don't get me wrong... but what the f&%$ is with the rhyming news headlines?

[Tomfurbs]

I fucking hate this cuntry(sic) sometimes!!!!!!!!!!!!

Huh? That is Surry Hills Sydney, Australia mate, not Surry, England.

Ironic that on March 1st it will be the site of the biggest annual gay and lesbian pride march in the world (which includes transgenders too, of course... )

[alpha2117]

I know her she was tight with one of my exes. She was always high maintainence but she's nice enough. The problem with Surry Hills and the Cross is the criminal element occupy a very similar space to the gay and transgender communities, I've known a few girls who have run with real losers.