Ex-senator Kristina Keneally's police officer-turned-criminal son has been spared jail for making a false statement that led another man into wrongful custody.
Daniel Keneally was working at Sydney's Newtown police station when he had a phone conversation with Luke Moore that resulted in the latter man spending three weeks behind bars.
Keneally was sentenced to a 15-month intensive correction order in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday after previously being convicted of fabricating evidence.
Mr Moore slammed the magistrate's decision saying it created incentives for people to lie.
"Dishonesty plagues the justice system at all levels. The falsification of evidence is now a fine art. This decision makes it even worse," he told AAP in a statement.
He rejected Magistrate Rodney Brender's findings that a junior policeman should not be viewed in the same light as a senior police officer, judge or politician.
"This is wrong," he said.
"The community needs the police officer on the street to be just as honest, or even more honest, than the one attending public ceremonies."
Keneally, whose mother served as a Labor senator and spent more than a year as NSW premier, collapsed into his chair and began hyperventilating after Mr Brender handed down the sentence.
The 25-year-old wrote a statement containing numerous falsehoods relating to a phone call from Mr Moore to Newtown police station in February 2021.
The statement, including claims Mr Moore wanted to kill a police officer, resulted in the activist being arrested and held in custody for three weeks.
The founder of ISuepolice was later released on bail and the charge dropped due to a recording of the conversation made on his phone.
Taken without Keneally's knowledge, the recording showed significant discrepancies from the officer's statement.
"This is a crime against public justice," Mr Brender said on Thursday.
The intensive correction order was imposed despite police prosecutors urging the court to order full-time imprisonment during a sentence hearing in December.
The magistrate said Keneally was unlikely to re-offend given he had lost his career and was no longer working in the NSW Police Force.
Mr Brender found Keneally's conduct caused Mr Moore serious harm.
However, he said the then-junior police officer made the false statement without any planning or apparent motive.
The imposition of an intensive corrections order would send a message to others not to commit similar crimes, Mr Brender said.
"(The order) is still a form of imprisonment."
The start of the order was put on hold on Thursday afternoon pending an appeal of both the conviction and sentence.
The case will return to Downing Centre District Court next Tuesday.
Keneally has also been ordered to complete 200 hours of community service and pay a $2000 fine.
Outside court, his lawyer Paul McGirr said the magistrate's decision would have been fair if his client was guilty of the offence.
But Mr McGirr said his client was innocent and had made an "honest mistake".
"Of course, he sympathises with Mr Moore but ... my client maintains his innocence and keeps his head up," Mr McGirr said.
"You, me, everybody, we all make mistakes."
An investigation by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission led to Keneally's charge in October 2022.
The police watchdog said it would provide a report to the NSW parliament when the criminal proceedings ended.
