A Sydney Eastern Suburbs police officer fronted court after police charged him with rape and stalking.
Joshua Wootton, 31, faced charges as follows:
- two counts of sexual intercourse without consent under section 61I of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW);
- three counts of stalking with intent to case fear under section 13 of the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 ;
- one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm under section 59 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW);
- a count of accessing data held in a computer under section 308H of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW);
- one count of public office misconduct which is a common law offence; and
- one count of malicious damage to property under section 195(1) of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW).
Sydney Police officer charged after arrest
Strike Force Mattm established to investigate allegations of stalking from two 26-year-old women.
Police alleged Wootton raped one of the women on two occasions. Once in 2014 and once in 2017.
Further, he’s also alleged to :
- have destroyed the woman’s property,
- physically assaulted her,
- and stalked her during various times over an eight-year-period.
Wootton allegedly stalked the second women throughout early 2022.
Police arrested him on Tuesday by NSW Police. Subsequently, he got bail.
Misconduct in office
Wootton allegedly broke into the NSW Police COPS database without authorisation in February this year.
However, police prosecutors said they would not act in this case, suggesting they will hand it over to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
NSW Police have stood Mr Wootton down from duties and his employment status is under review.
Sarah is a civil solicitor who primarily practices in defamation, intentional torts against police, privacy and harassment.
