By Andrew Dowdell
A PENSIONER has been restricted from volunteering at a nursing home – for a minor stealing offence 35 years ago that he says he did not commit.
Richmond man John Kallios, 69, says he simply wanted to give back to his community, but a routine police check detailed a 1977 larceny offence in his name.
Now police have told Mr Kallios he needs to prove it was not him who committed the offence, even though court records relating to the alleged crime have been destroyed.
He has offered to take a lie detector test, and believes the offence could have been committed by one of two other men with the same name and mistakenly added to his record.
Mr Kallios had applied for the police check to cook and clean at St Nicholas church at Thebarton and Greek Orthodox Community Care at Ridleyton but was shocked when it came up with the larceny offence – for which no conviction or penalty was ordered.
“I have never heard of it before, anything it takes to find out the truth I will do it, I’ll take a lie detector test, anything. I’m not going to give up and I will win this,” the Greek migrant said.
“There could have been a common mistake as to who committed the offence, which I vehemently deny.”
Mr Kallios has been licensed to drive taxis since 1980 and said he would not have been granted accreditation had the larceny offence been on his record when he applied for his accreditation.
Mr Kallios, who came to Australia when he was 11, said he had a criminal record of four minor illegal gaming offences in the 1970s and a speeding offence in 2008.
A letter from SAPOL’s Information Unit in May to Mr Kallios said the court documents relating to the larceny conviction had been destroyed.
“SAPOL cannot confirm that the offence is correctly recorded against your name,” the letter states.
“Therefore it is determined not to delete the offence and it will remain on your record until such time that you can prove otherwise.”
Mr Kallios has now appealed against the decision in the District Court, but said the ordeal had taken a toll on his mental health.