The ACT's top prosecutor has rejected claims his office "undercooked" the case against a driver who hit three police officers, whose union boss believes they have been let down.
Three months after it was revealed police and prosecutors had not seen eye to eye during the high-profile rape trial of Bruce Lehrmann, a fresh round of tensions has come to the fore.
The latest clash followed the sentencing of Thomas Matthews, who was jailed on Tuesday for 23 months in relation to two counts of causing grievous bodily harm by a negligent act.
The Hawker man admitted ploughing his car into three police officers, seriously injuring two of the victims, near the National Arboretum, in July 2021.
While Matthews initially faced three counts of attempted murder, those charges were withdrawn and replaced after prosecutors accepted the collision had been accidental.
During a recent sentence hearing, prosecutor Anthony Williamson SC did not push for Matthews to be locked up for any longer than the 16 months he had served on remand.
However, on Tuesday, Chief Justice Lucy McCallum found further time behind bars was warranted.
She described the prosecutor's position as paying "inadequate regard to the need to denounce the high degree of negligence ... and the need to recognise the very substantial harm done to the police officers, whose lives have been so dramatically affected".
The requirement for Matthews to serve about seven more months behind bars did not satisfy Australian Federal Police Association president Alex Caruana, who said members of the union that represents Canberra's cops considered the sentence "very soft".
But Mr Caruana did not blame the ACT Supreme Court's top judge, saying she "did the best she could with the case that was presented by the [Director of Public Prosecutions]".
"There were obviously other charges that we feel should have been put by the DPP, and it indicates to us that the DPP are under-funded [and] under-resourced," Mr Caruana said.
He said the "undercooked" case added weight to his ongoing calls for a review of the ACT's justice system, "including a review of what's happening at the DPP".
Asked to respond to Mr Caruana's criticism, ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC dismissed it.
"I acknowledge the pain that this tragic event has caused, and that those impacted will long bear the physical and emotional scars," Mr Drumgold told The Canberra Times.
"This case demonstrates the dangers our front line workers face on a daily basis.
"My office, however, has a steadfast commitment to act independently, particularly in the face of public pressure.
"As ministers of justice, we must pursue justice between the community [and] the victims as well as the offender.
"In doing so, we must, at all times, act according to law and the overarching principles of fairness.
"I am satisfied that this very difficult case was prosecuted in the finest traditions of these obligations."
