NO DRUGS: I SWEAR ON MY WIFE

Sacked police officer Anthony Dilorenzo says he was at home with his wife
and family - not partying on drugs - the night before he and Constable
Rodney Podesta shot Roni Levi dead on Bondi Beach.

The former senior constable called a press conference at his home in Bondi
yesterday to deny allegations that he and Podesta were at a number of
early-morning parties where drugs and alcohol were consumed just a few hours
before they fired their revolvers at the French photographer on June 28, 1997.

"I am innocent of the allegations and will strenuously defend them,"
Dilorenzo said.

The Police Integrity Commission would hold fresh hearings in November to
investigate whether Dilorenzo and Podesta "were affected by drugs and/or
alcohol at the time they were involved in the fatal shooting", according to
a public notice in newspapers yesterday.

Dilorenzo said reports in the Heraldwere "totally untrue" and he planned
legal action.

"I was never affected by drugs or alcohol on the day of the shooting," he
said. "I have offered on numerous occasions a blood and urine sample to the
police, which was never taken."

Dilorenzo said that the night before the shooting, he had stayed home with
his wife, Annabel, their two young children, his aunt and uncle, and a
family friend, eating fish and chips and watching football.

He had "never admitted to drug abuse" and was "confident that truth will
prevail and that my reputation and good character will be restored".

Mrs Dilorenzo, who was pregnant at the time, said "four or five witnesses"
saw her husband at home that night.

"We have had a fish night every Friday since my children were born. There
was no way I would let him out when I was eight months pregnant anyway."

Dilorenzo and Podesta shot Levi after he threatened them with a knife during
a 30-minute stand-off on Bondi Beach. It was later found that Levi had been
suffering a mental disorder.Podesta resigned from the Police Service soon
after the shooting.

An inquest found both officers had a case to answer but the NSW Director of
Public Prosecutions, Mr Nicholas Cowdery, QC, did not proceed.

Dilorenzo is fighting in the Industrial Relations Commission against his
sacking.

The Police Commissioner, Mr Peter Ryan, ordered his dismissal, concluding he
had lost confidence in Dilorenzo for his failure to explain why he was at
the house of a target of an Internal Affairs raid.

Asked if he would return to the Police Service, where he worked for nearly
14 years, Dilorenzo replied: "I don't think at this stage I would go back
after what they have done to me."