By John Tognolini
SYDNEY — On February 12, within 24 hours of being paroled from prison after serving almost 15 years, 49 year-old Jimmy Smith was shot five times outside his wife's Bondi flat. He is presently fighting for his life in St Vincent Hospital, with most of his liver destroyed.
Who shot Jimmy Smith? Obviously, someone with a grudge against him. But he'd been in jail for nearly 15 years, and in maximum security for much of that time. Who held grudges against Smith? Many present and former police officers did because he had helped to expose several police scandals in NSW and Victoria.
"When Jimmy Smith was shot last night it just continued the long line of abuse and attacks on this gentle person", said well-known prisons activist Brett Collins in a press release on behalf of the Campaign Exposing Frame Ups and Targeting Abuses of Authority (CEFTAA).
Smith's case is well known in NSW legal circles. After his acquittal on frame-up charges last year, Tim Anderson mentioned it in an interview with Green Left Weekly. He said Smith was a good example of the many hundreds of people unjustly imprisoned due to police frame-ups, verbal "confessions" etc.
"Edward James (Jockey) Smith has a criminal record and is currently doing a life sentence for supposedly attempting to fire a gun at a police officer who was also involved in the attempt to frame me.
"I'm convinced the story is complete and utter fabrication. The charge was attempting to discharge a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm back in 1977 at a phone booth at Nowra. This police officer says Jockey attempted to shoot him when he attempted to arrest him, and the officer instead of deflecting the gun or anything put his finger behind the trigger" to stop the gun being fired. "Which is just about a physical impossibility. It's about the stupidest thing anyone could do.
Smith was sentenced to life for an offence for which the maximum sentence was later reduced to 14 years. "He's been made to serve more time than people get for murder." He became known as the lifer without a victim.
Jimmy Smith was first imprisoned at the age of 18. He did nine months for his first offence, stealing. So harsh was the decision that it prompted Detective Senior Sergeant Cameron of Geelong to say, "I've no time for Smith, but there's no doubt he did it tough for a first offence. He was never convicted of any violent crime."
But there's another side to Jimmy Smith. The CEFTAA magazine, Framed, explains: "Jimmy is a man of principle who has been involved in major police scandals in NSW and Victoria over the past two decades. He has spoken out strongly against police corruption and is still paying for it.
"Young barrister Peter Livesey was disbarred and Wendy Bacon g him. In 1974 he worked with Dr Bertram Wainer and others for the Beach Inquiry into Victorian Police malpractice, which resulted in multiple charges against police.
"They charged him with murder and robberies and failed every time. They were more effective with their charges of 'attempt' — no victims and no actions, just bare accusations and verbals by police. Charges dependent on 'police credit' ...
"Police accusations kept him in maximum security where he continued to do legal cases, representing himself, winning court cases against police in New South Wales and Victoria continuously."
In the Nowra case, independent witnesses disagreed on many points as to what happened outside the phone box, and there was a question as to whether two other police witnesses were even present. "The jury was out for 33 hours until the judge said he'd lock them up for another night until they made a decision. They found him guilty. Jimmy Smith didn't plead on the sentence, he just said he'd been framed and verballed by the police."