Jury finds independent Mount Gambier MP Troy Bell guilty of theft and fraud

South Australian independent MP Troy Bell has been found guilty of 20 counts of theft, following a three-month trial.

Transcript

00:00After two days of deliberation, a District Court jury found Independent MP Troy Stephen

00:07Bell guilty of 20 counts of theft.

00:09He'd previously pleaded not guilty to those 20 counts of theft and also to six counts

00:14of dishonest dealing with documents.

00:16He was found not guilty of just one of those counts of dishonest dealing with documents.

00:21Prosecutors said that Bell had abused his position as an employee for the Department

00:25of Education to steal more than $430,000 from not-for-profit educational organisations

00:32between 2009 and 2013.

00:34They alleged that he used the money to fund home renovations and also to repay credit

00:38card debts and that the alleged offending ended when Bell left that role to pursue politics.

00:44He won the March 2014 election as a Liberal candidate but left the party after he was

00:49charged in 2017.

00:51He's since been re-elected as the Independent MP for Mount Gambier in 2018 and also in 2022.

00:58This was a lengthy trial which saw evidence like an intercepted phone call between Bell

01:03and the former Liberal leader Isabel Redmond during which he asked for help to find a pretty

01:08good lawyer.

01:09Bell's lawyer, Nick Healy, had argued that the prosecution's case against him was a

01:13mad rabble and that it had more holes in it than a balfour's crumpet.

01:17It also labelled it misguided, confusing and internally inconsistent.

01:21Yesterday outside of court, neither Bell or his lawyer commented on the matter and we'll

01:26be waiting now to see Bell appearing in court at a later date for sentencing.