A senior police officer has confessed to targeting multiple male colleagues by touching their butt cheeks in bathrooms and at a wild work Christmas party.
Sydney-based Senior Constable Jonathan Robert Willetts was charged with six counts of common assault, which he pleaded guilty to in December 2021.
Before the assaults took place, court documents state the 35-year-old attached to the NSW Police Transport Command and 15 of his colleagues were due to meet near Westfield’s Parramatta shopping centre and catch a minibus to their work Christmas party at The Greens in North Sydney on December 19, 2020.
About 2pm before the bus left, Senior Constable Wilyan Lay was washing his hands in the Westfield toilet when he felt Willets whack his buttocks and push him into the basin area.
When the group arrived at The Greens, Willetts walked up behind Senior Constable James Jin and touched him on the buttocks over his pants while he was standing near a marquee beside the bowling green.
At another point during the party, court documents state Willetts grabbed Senior Constable Michael Tarakjian on the crotch and held his hand there for a second after tasting his cocktail.
Later on during the party, Willetts asked Senior Constable Goya Hedayat where his vape and drink were located before launching into another assault.
According to court documents, after asking the question, Willets put his hands down the back of Constable Hedayat’s chair and made contact with his buttocks. Willets then made contact with Constable Hedayat’s genital area between his legs and said “it’s not there”.
When party organiser Senior Constable Daniel Craig went to ask for more food, he returned to a table and walked past Willetts who leaned forward and ran several fingers across Mr Craig’s crotch.
Shortly after 7pm on the night of the party, Willetts approached Senior Constable Christopher Bucknell as he entered a stall in the toilets.
Court documents state Willetts yelled “Belly and I just won two grand on the pokies” and grabbed Mr Bucknell on the buttocks before leaving the toilet and saying nothing further.
After Willetts’ assault, Mr Bucknell described it as “lingering” and said “it was a grab, squeeze and releaxjmtzywse”.
Willetts, who joined NSW Police in 2008, had only been part of the Transport Command for four months when the assaults took place.
According to a statement of agreed facts tendered in court, Willetts had not socialised with any of his victims outside of work prior to the Christmas party.
The victims have said they have no knowledge of a touching culture within the Police Transport Command.
Willetts was due to be sentenced in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday but neither he nor his legal representative or the prosecutor handling the case fronted court.
Magistrate David Price read out an email sent on Willetts’ behalf by his solicitor, requesting the sentencing proceedings be adjourned.
The court was told the prosecutor consented to the adjournment and Mr Price agreed.
The case returns to court in April.
