CCTV blunder: wrong 'sex attacker' chargedCCTV blunder: wrong 'sex attacker' chargedA man, mistakenly accused of being a sex predator after CCTV footage of him was shown on television, has been released fromcustody after police realised he was not the culprit.Accused man not sex predator- Footage shown on television news bulletins- Police renew appeal for informationBut the mistake has prompted the Australian Council for CivilLiberties to call for CCTV footage of suspected offenders to bebroadcast only if police are granted a court order to do so.The council's national president, Terry O'Gorman, said the policetactic, widely used around Australia, was a concern for tworeasons. "Firstly, often identification is a real issue in a case as thebroadcasting of CCTV or other pictures often interferes with theintegrity of a court case," he said. "Secondly, it's a huge invasion of privacy and it's a procedurewhich we think should be kept under control. Clearly here thestandard of policing has been unacceptably low. If the police can'tget their act together and they are making that kind of mistake,the protection of the courts is needed." In the latest twist in the hunt for the "buck-tooth" sex predatorstalking teenaged girls in Sydney's west, police last nighthurriedly applied to the Supreme Court to release the man, who hasbeen held in custody since Sunday. One of the sex offender's teenaged victims reported seeing herattacker in Woodcroft on July 25 and, soon afterwards, policereleased CCTV footage from Blacktown train station of the manwanted for the crimes. It was this footage, shown on television news bulletins over theweekend, that prompted the released man to go to Mount DruittPolice Station on Sunday, police say. On Sunday detectives from Strike Force Luxford, set up to catch thesex-predator, were thanking the public and the media "for theirassistance during the investigation" after they arrested a23-year-old Minchinbury man.
The man appeared in Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday charged with 11offences related to attacks on six teenaged girls between April andJune.
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