5 July 2008
MEDIA RELEASE: Immediate use
Investigation Into The Shooting Of Steven Wallace
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has confirmed it is continuing its investigation into the shooting of Steven
Wallace in Waitara on 30 April 2000.
Authority Chair Justice Lowell Goddard said the Authority resumed its investigation after the conclusion of the
Coroner’s inquest into Steven’s death in August 2007, and had found some matters that needed further independent
investigation.
Authority investigators have interviewed several current and former police officers, and have also interviewed witnesses
to the shooting and members of Steven Wallace’s family.
Justice Goddard expressed regret that the Authority’s investigation was still to be completed several years after Steven
Wallace’s death. She said that the Authority’s practice in the past had been to wait until police investigations, court
hearings and coroner’s hearings had been completed before conducting its own inquiries. The Authority has now changed
that practice.
She also noted that, at the time of Steven Wallace’s shooting, the Authority had not been resourced to carry out its own
investigations. That had also changed and the current investigation was fully independent.
ends