Barrister charged in hit-run
The Australian NSW CountryTUE 02 DEC 2003, By Andrew McGarry

EUGENE McGee’s work as a prominent Adelaide barrister has seen him defend notorious criminals, including Snowtown killer James Vlassakis and magistrate-turned-convicted pedophile Peter Liddy. But late on Sunday afternoon, 49-year-old Mr McGee — a former policeman — was himself being hunted by police after they found cyclist Ian Humphrey fatally injured on a remote Barossa Valley road about 5pm. Mr Humphrey allegedly had been hit by a deep green Mitsubishi Pajero and left to die.

Police found the badly damaged, late-model four-wheel drive at a property in the South Australian town of Kapunda but could not find its owner. Six hours later, Mr McGee surrendered to police at an Adelaide police station.

Mr McGee was interviewed by police in Adelaide before being charged with causing death by dangerous driving, failure to stop and failure to render assistance. He was given police bail and will appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on December 19. The maximum penalty for a first offender charged with causing death by dangerous driving is 10 years’ jail.

Asked about the charges, a staff member at Mr McGee’s firm, McGee and Associates, said she was “not in a position to make any comment”. A police spokeswoman refused to confirm whether Mr McGee was the subject of the charges. She said the green Mitsubishi Pajero had been travelling south behind a cyclist when the cyclist had allegedly been struck.

Superintendent Jim Carter told the Ten Network at the scene of the accident: “The law says you must stop and render assistance. It would appear the driver of this vehicle did not, just kept on driving and left the cyclist on the side of the road to die.”

Mr Humphrey was from Evanston Park in Adelaide’s north. Aged 45, he was believed to be a civilian police employee involved in the rehabilitation of injured officers. Superintendent Carter said that Mr Humphrey died at the scene. Mr McGee acted as solicitor for Liddy, who was convicted of pedophilia charges after a South Australian Supreme Court trial. He was one of the defence team for Vlassakis during his committal hearing for the bodies-in-barrels murders.

Mr McGee has previously represented the Police Association in the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody and been involved in war crimes trials.