Court of Appeal dismisses case of man killed by police, agrees it was in self-defence

Steven Wallace. Photo / Supplied

The Court of Appeal has dismissed the case of the family of a man killed by police, saying the constable who killed him acted in reasonable self-defence.

Steven Wallace was shot in April 2000 following a brief rampage on the main street of Waitara which saw him smash the windows of the police station and nearby shops with a baseball bat.

He was also carrying a golf club.

In a ruling last year, Judge Rebecca Ellis detailed the police response to Wallace.

"Two officers then went to the nearby police station. They armed themselves with police regulation Glock pistols and returned to the scene.

"Sixty-four seconds later, Steven Wallace had been shot four times and was lying in the middle of the road, mortally wounded. He died on the operating table at 9.05am, that same morning.

"From the first to the last, Steven Wallace's encounter with police lasted six minutes. He was 23 years old."

Wallace's family launched an appeal against Constable Keith Abbot, who killed Wallace. They argued he breached Wallace's right to life – it is the court's position Abbot acted in self-defence.

"Constable Abbott acted in self-defence in the circumstances as he honestly and reasonably understood them to be and the force he used was reasonable," the ruling released today reads.

"In our view the investigations collectively met the State's obligation to investigate both the lawfulness of constable Abbott's use of lethal force and the adequacy of police planning and control of the operation which ended in Mr Wallace's death."