January 23, 2013

Trial told of women's clothing being dislodged

By David Clarkson. Updated Report.

A police constable has testified that he only saw a woman from behind when her upper clothing became dislodged as he was arresting her during a fracas outside the Woolston Tavern.

The constable told a Christchurch District Court trial that he could not deal with the ?clothing issue? at the time because of safety fears.

Pieces of concrete, stones, and bottles were flying from the crowd that was confronting the police after the clearing of the tavern and its associated nightclub in Ferry Road on July 8.

?I contemplated doing something about it,? the constable told the second day of the trial, ?but my primary concern was my safety and hers. There was a real risk of one of us being hit by missiles. The safest thing to do was to get her into the police van.?

The woman was handcuffed and placed in the van, and the constable told of seeing a second woman?s clothing dislodged as she was on the ground, trying to kick a constable who was trying to arrest and handcuff her.

After that incident, soon after, he radioed for a woman police officer to attend to deal with the women?s clothing issues.

The constable said he had only seen the first woman from behind when her upper clothing came down. She had been wearing a strapless dress, and be believed her saw a bra-strap, though no brassiere was listed among her property at the time of her arrest.

The two women, whose names are suppressed, are on trial before Judge Robert Murfitt at a hearing expected to last several days while evidence is heard from a total of 21 witnesses.

One of the women, aged 21, is charged with assaulting, obstructing, and resisting the police. The other, aged 23, is charged with obstructing and resisting the police. They deny the charges.

The women have made complaints of being indecently assaulted by the police, allegations which have led to the names of the two arresting officers being suppressed at the trial. Their complaints may eventually be dealt with at court, or at the Independent Police Conduct Authority.

The constable said the woman he arrested was ?grossly intoxicated? and was staggering or stumbling. She had to be repeated told to ?go away, go home? and pushed away when she kept approaching the police line that had been formed.

When she was not co-operative, he decided to arrest her. As she was being arrested she began flailing her arms, and at one point lifted her bare feet off the ground which caused him and the woman to lose balance and fall. At that point, she became partially disrobed.

Police prosecutor Glenn Henderson asked: ?Why didn?t you pull up her clothing??

The officer replied that the police manual regarding searches indicated it would not be appropriate. He would have had to place his hands around her breast area, which would have opened him up to misconduct allegations.

Defence counsel Chris Persson has said the women will make allegations of police brutality over their treatment after their arrest, at the Christchurch Police Station.

Update: Cross-examining the officer today, Mr Persson played a security camera video of the incident recorded by the hotel. The grainy video appeared to show the first woman being placed in the police van and then dragged out and put back in.

But the officer replied that it showed the officers trying to get her handcuffed and into the van while she was still fighting.

Mr Persson asked why she had not been given her Bill of Rights caution immediately, and the officer said it was because of the danger from the continuing incident.

The officer acknowledged that because of the disorder, he had not called for assistance from a female officer until after the second women?s arrest, when that woman?s clothing also became dislodged.