The man accused of killing high-profile Labor strategist Tim Picton in a coward-punch attack has avoided being sent back to prison to await trial after police prosecutors abandoned a move to revoke his bail.
Brodie Jake Dewar, 20, returned to the Supreme Court on Thursday after the state applied to revoke his bail granted by Judge Joseph McGrath two weeks ago, which was subject to 12 conditions – including not consuming alcohol.
The court was told officers managing Dewar’s bail conditions performed a random breath test on him in the early hours of Sunday morning, and he allegedly recorded a blood alcohol level of 0.014.
But in a bizarre twist, prosecutor Justin Whalley abandoned the application after watching a video supplied by Dewar’s defence lawyer Milan Bevk behind closed doors.
Whalley told the court that, after being apprised of the evidence, coupled with the video and a “scientific journal”, he did not believe the state had strong enough evidence to proceed with the application.
He said it was clear Dewar had returned a positive breath test, but the state could not establish he had consumed alcohol in breach of his bail condition.
“I’m reticent to go into further details … I’m not sure it would assist enforcement efforts in this state as a whole,” he said.
Whalley said there were procedures the state would put in place in future cases that would avoid this scenario.
Dewar did not say anything as he left the court.
He is facing a manslaughter charge over the alleged attack on Picton, which occurred outside a Northbridge nightclub in the early hours of December 27.
Dewar’s bail conditions included that he surrender his passport, stay away from licensed premises and submit to random drug and alcohol tests.
He was also required to stay at his parents’ house in Lesmurdie, in Perth’s south-east, and has a curfew of 7pm to 5am, allowing him to continue his apprenticeship as a roof plumber.
Picton’s family opposed Dewar’s bail, while police prosecutors also initially opposed it.
The alleged assault left Picton, 36, with a serious brain bleed, and he was placed in a coma but died in hospital on January 19.
At an earlier hearing last month, Dewar’s lawyer Simon Watters said his client’s 18-year-old cousin had been repeatedly approached by Picton at the Paramount Nightclub on Boxing Day evening.
Picton was escorted out of the nightclub before it closed at 5am and approached the girl again outside, after which Dewar approached Picton on the street.
The court was told Dewar was assaulted from behind five minutes earlier by an unrelated person, and Watters said the 20-year-old assumed he was going to be assaulted by Picton during their interaction, leading him to “throw a punch first”.
But police prosecutors rejected Watters’ characterisation of the interaction, saying it was not reasonable for Dewar to form the view he was going to be hit.
The prosecutor said Picton did not make any aggressive motions and had only raised a cigarette slowly to his mouth.
Dewar is also facing charges after allegedly assaulting another man outside the Kalamunda Hotel two days before he is accused of hitting Picton.
Dewar claimed that man was “hitting on” his younger sister, and allegedly filmed him as he lay unconscious on the ground and posted footage to Snapchat.
He has not yet entered a plea for either charge and will front court again on April 29.
Picton was regarded as an election mastermind who was the driving force behind the Labor’s 2021 state election win and its 2022 federal election success in WA.
He left politics in 2022 to work for Mineral Resources as a director, and had also previously worked with the Victorian and South Australian Labor parties.
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Hamish Hastie is WAtoday’s state political reporter and the winner of five WA Media Awards, including the 2023 Beck Prize for best political journalism.Connect via X or email.
