Cops charged over Bond Uni student’s death

TWO Gold Coast cops have been charged with perjury and assault over the death of a young Bond University student.

Charlie Robertson, 19, died at his Nobby Beach unit in June 2015 after taking a cocktail of drugs just hours after receiving a Dean's award at the elite private university.

Graham Robertson, the grieving father of Charlie Roberston at his Southport home. Picture: Richard Gosling

A 2017 inquest into his death heard that seven officers from the crack Rapid Action Patrols unit raided the unit and found him asleep after he had taken drugs including cocaine and GHB.

Police spent 90 minutes trying to wake Mr Robertson up by shining a torch on him, pinching and rubbing his chest, shaking him, pouring water on him and tipping his bed, the inquest was told.

They then left him in the company of three teenage girls without seeking medical treatment.

Coroner Terry Ryan found that Mr Robertson's death was preventable and that police had acted 'inappropriately and incompetently' with 'a lack of any respect for Charlie'.

He referred the case to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

A certificate of excellence which Charlie Robertson was awarded by Bond University the day before his death. Picture: Richard Gosling

In a statement on Friday, police said two senior constables - one 57 and the other 30 - had been charged with perjury and common assault over Mr Robertson's death and the subsequent inquest.

They will face Brisbane Magistrates Court on April 9 and have been stood down from duty.

Originally published as Cops charged over Bond Uni student's death