Police Brutality and Systemic Failures: The Tom Starling Case
The image of Tom Starling, a professional rugby league player, pacing his police cell with a torn shirt, a bloodied face, and evident concussion, paints a stark picture. It was a Sunday morning in December 2020 when Detective Sergeant Kurt Hayward received a series of calls informing him of the arrest of an NRL player. Hayward, a seasoned officer with 23 years of service in the NSW Police Force, understood immediately the gravity of the situation. “I knew that it was going to cause a storm,” he recounted. Speaking publicly for the first time about the Starling incident, Hayward believes he witnessed a profound failure within the system to hold officers accountable for their actions.
The incident unfolded at a 21st birthday party at the Shady Palms bar on the NSW Central Coast. Police were called to a disturbance involving bar security and Starling, along with his family. Officers from the local station and the riot squad alleged that Starling and others violently assaulted them. During the ensuing melee, they claimed Starling even attempted to grab a detective’s firearm from his holster.
Upon his release from the Gosford police station on Sunday morning, Starling was met by a waiting journalist and camera operator, eager to document another NRL player accused of misconduct. As he navigated the media scrum, Starling held aloft a police document detailing charges of assaulting police and resisting arrest.
A Disturbing Revelation on CCTV
The following day, Detective Sergeant Hayward entered the police station and observed another officer reviewing the CCTV footage of the incident. What he saw was deeply disturbing. The footage showed Starling being dragged backwards out of the bar by officers. A tall, powerfully built riot squad officer, Sergeant Evan Prowse, delivered at least two punches to Starling, rendering the Canberra Raiders hooker unconscious. While still being held by police, and either unconscious or barely conscious, Starling was struck several more times by a local officer, Senior Constable Steven Brown.
Hayward’s immediate reaction was one of shock and disbelief. “The first thing I said was, ‘it looks like [a police officer’s] going to hit the dock,'” he stated, referring to the holding cells for those charged with offences. “It was that obvious that it wasn’t right.” He elaborated, “You could see Starling had already been knocked unconscious and was floppy and Brown throws those punches at the unconscious body. There’s no way you can justify those actions.” Both Prowse and Brown deny assaulting Starling.
Hayward then read the official police report concerning the incident. To him, the report bore no resemblance to the visual evidence he had just witnessed. He described it as “a classic case of overcharging and [police] trying to justify their actions by overcharging and saying things that just didn’t happen.” He harboured an expectation that his superiors, upon viewing the CCTV footage, would initiate an internal investigation, leading to the standing down and potential charging of the officers involved. However, this was not to be.
The Rising Tide of Misconduct Claims
The Tom Starling case is being brought to light as part of the “Brutal Force” series, which highlights a concerning escalation in complaints and civil litigation against the NSW Police Force. In the last financial year, the NSW Police Force paid out a record $40 million in settlements and legal costs to individuals pursuing claims of alleged police misconduct. This figure represents a staggering 43 per cent increase over a five-year period, according to the police’s own data.
Furthermore, in the same year, the NSW police were respondents in 478 civil lawsuits, averaging approximately two cases per working day. Legal professionals, victims, and criminologists widely view this trend as a symptom of a flawed police misconduct system. This system, they argue, frequently fails to deliver justice, compelling victims and their legal representatives to seek recourse in civil courts.
Professor Tim Prenzler, a leading criminologist and police integrity expert from the University of the Sunshine Coast, asserts that “High levels of litigation are a result of bad behaviour by police.” He further notes that “To be successful in the civil courts in suing the police, you have to have a very strong case. So where we see success in litigation, there’s probably substantial evidence of misconduct.”
A Young Player’s Nightmare
For the initial days following the incident, Tom Starling remained at home, grappling with a barrage of media reports branding him as a “footy thug.” He feared his burgeoning NRL career was over before it had truly begun. “It was like living in a dream or something, like you’re just waiting to wake up,” he expressed. “I’d just started playing in the NRL, the only thing I ever wanted to do, and one moment you’re there at your mate’s 21st and then you’re being told you’re being charged with assaulting police.”
Raised in a working-class family on the Central Coast, rugby league had always been Starling’s passion. He recalled looking up to NRL players as a child, viewing them “like they were superheroes.” Starling maintained his innocence to the Canberra Raiders and was determined to fight the charges. His parents invested their savings to secure the services of criminal lawyer Samar Singh-Panwar.
Singh-Panwar was unequivocal in his assessment: “I think anyone who views that CCTV footage can see that what occurred was an unjustified, brutal assault by police. It simply could not be reconciled with the allegations as contained in the fact sheet.” In court, Singh-Panwar would later characterise the initial police account of events as “a template of untruths.”
The Price of Whistleblowing
Detective Sergeant Hayward was resolute in his pursuit of accountability. “After I saw that footage, I was immediately concerned that the police had done the wrong thing and needed to report that misconduct as an obligation of my role.” The NSW Police Act mandates that officers report any suspected criminal offences, corruption, or unlawful acts committed by their colleagues.
However, a deeply entrenched culture of silence within the police force often hinders such reporting, according to Professor Prenzler. He explains that “Suppression of evidence and solidarity are common in all organisations. It’s probably more intense in, in police … because of the more stressful and dangerous nature of the work where police are more dependent on backup and support from colleagues. And so naturally, they’re very reluctant to blow the whistle or provide evidence against colleagues.”
Undeterred by this culture, Hayward decided to escalate his concerns to his superior, the crime manager. During a joint viewing of the CCTV footage, Hayward repeatedly pointed out the punches being thrown at an unconscious man. His crime manager, however, offered a starkly different interpretation: “‘Oh, you keep saying that. I see a man who’s resisting arrest, not a police officer punching another man’.” Hayward was subsequently informed that both the head of his district and the region commander believed no wrongdoing had occurred. He was advised that any further disagreement would require him to “go all the way to the top.”
Feeling he had no other recourse, Hayward began to draft what he described as a “career suicide note,” ultimately writing to the Police Commissioner to report the incident. A few days later, he was summoned to the region commander’s office. To his surprise, instead of facing repercussions, he was informed that the commander had not been fully briefed on the case. After reviewing the CCTV footage, the commander ordered an investigation into the police actions.
Hayward’s persistence had yielded a victory. He was appointed as the officer in charge of the Starling matter and instructed to withdraw most of the charges against the player. However, the aftermath at Gosford Police Station was far from triumphant. Hayward experienced ostracism from some colleagues, and anonymous notes were left on his desk. Disillusioned by his experiences, his pride in his job diminished, and approximately 18 months after the Starling incident, Hayward resigned from the NSW police.
To this day, Hayward remains critical of the NSW Police Force, believing its systems sometimes enable officers with significant societal power to engage in misconduct with impunity. “There’s nothing more hypocritical than someone in that position doing those things. You should be arresting people who do that, not doing it yourself,” he stated.
A Long and Arduous Battle for Justice
Over the subsequent two years, Tom Starling fought the charges while striving to maintain his NRL career. “It was hard to show up sometimes, put that brave face on and pretend like it wasn’t affecting me, but one hundred per cent it was,” he admitted. “I was a young kid trying to live out my dream and I had this dark cloud just following me around everywhere.” He confessed to feeling that spectators at games believed the media narratives about him.
Ultimately, Starling’s perseverance, much like Hayward’s, bore fruit. In February 2023, the final charge against him was dismissed. A year later, in February 2024, Sergeants Prowse and Brown were charged with assault in connection with the incident. Their trial is scheduled to commence soon, more than five years after the events at Shady Palms. Both officers have pleaded not guilty.
Tom’s brother, Josh Starling, was found guilty of common assault and resisting police for his involvement in the brawl, though no conviction was recorded. Once the criminal proceedings against Prowse and Brown conclude, Starling intends to pursue a civil lawsuit against the police. By the time all legal avenues are exhausted, it is likely that more than six years will have passed since that fateful night.
Starling acknowledges that the experience has left an indelible mark. “It’s something that’s always going to be there. You still Google my name, it’s still there. That never goes away.”
The full investigation “Brutal Force” by Four Corners is available on ABC iview.
