Two veteran police officers have been accused of hitting,punching and calling teenage boys “spastic idiots” and “dumb little c---s” during an arrest beside a NSW country highway,then hiding the body-worn camera footage to avoid it being used as evidence.
But the men have pleaded not guilty and deny the allegations,saying any force they used was necessary,and misplacement of body camera footage was accidental.
Police officer David John Henderson,right,accepts an award for citizen of the year in 2020 in Lismore,with then-mayor Isaac Smith.Supplied
“The matter of what the police are doing has to be judged by reference to the pressure of events and the agony of the moment,not by reference to hindsight,” said one of the men’s barristers,Eugene Wasilenia.
Senior Constable Adrian Robert Piovesan and Leading Senior Constable David John Henderson – a one-time Lismore citizen of the year who has been decorated for bravery – are facing trial in the District Court at Moree in the state’s north-west before Judge Paul McGuire.
They are charged with assault and perverting the course of justice,or,if that is not proven,tampering with evidence. Henderson is also charged with assault occasioning bodily harm,or if that does not reach the standard of proof,common assault.
The charges relate to a June 2022 incident outside Boggabilla,near the Queensland border,when police spotted a blue Honda – which the officers believed was stolen and involved in multiple break-ins – speeding along the Newell Highway.
Henderson estimated the car was travelling at 200km/h and told the court during the trial,which began last week,that it had overtaken a two-carriage truck on the wrong side of the road. Officers initiated a pursuit and eventually stopped the car with road spikes.
Teenage boys – who cannot be identified for legal reasons,with several minors – were taken out of the car. The court heard Henderson got on top of the front seat passenger when he was on the ground and said,“you f---ing dumb little c---” followed quickly by you “f---ing little arseholes”.
Under cross-examination earlier this week,Henderson said he used such language only “very rarely” during an arrest,under exigent circumstances.
The Crown prosecutor alleged Henderson also hit the boy forcefully to the head,then turned the teen to his side,said,“How old are you,you little f---wit”,and told him to wake up as he hit him to the face. The Crown argued the officer struck the teen in anger.
‘I didn’t strike him the first time,the second one was to get him out of shock so I could get him talking.’
Leading Senior Constable David John Henderson
Henderson denied the first hit and said the second was an open-hand tap of one out of 10,which he felt was necessary. “I didn’t strike him the first time,the second one was to get him out of shock so I could get him talking,” he told the court on Monday.
Meanwhile,the Crown argued,Piovesan took three back-seat passengers and put them on the ground,punched one whose hands were on his head,which he denied,and called him a “f---ing little c---” (Piovesan said he used the word “c---” in the plural,to refer to several boys).
The boy told the court he was punched to the ribs,and that he was winded.
The Crown argued that Piovesan hit the teen because he was angry,and that the level of force was not necessary. “It was done in anger,it was done to punish[the teen],it was done to make[the teen scared],” the prosecutor said in his closing address on Wednesday.
However,Piovesan told the court earlier this week that he was not angry,but frightened. “I was more worried about them killing someone or themselves,” he said.
The Crown alleged Piovesan also struck a second boy,which the officer said was not a hit but rather a palm heel strike that he considered necessary because the boys were wriggling and trying to get away.
‘I was more worried about them killing someone or themselves.’
Senior Constable Adrian Robert Piovesan
About the same time,footage played to the court shows Piovesan said,“f---ing spastic idiots … I hope youse are all f---ing scared now,eh”. The officer said that comment was intended to ensure the teens knew the seriousness of the situation.
“The consequences may have been horrendous,” Piovesan said.
The court heard Piovesan lost his body-worn camera in the days after the incident. The Crown argued the loss was “merely part of a deception to hide it”.
Henderson logged his body-worn camera footage of the incident alongside a different job,the inspection of a local club. The Crown argued he deliberately hid the recording,but he said it was an error.
The Crown also said Henderson was heard admitting things got a “bit rough” during the incident.
“Crown submits the accused David Henderson having watched the recording thought that he and the accused[Piovesan] had been too rough … too rough,used too much force,used force that was not reasonably necessary,” he told the court on Wednesday.
In his closing address – which will continue on Thursday – Henderson’s barrister,Wasilenia,said the incident happened at night,in an isolated area,and involved a car with a then-unknown number of occupants that had been accused of break-ins and was driving at dangerous speeds to avoid police.
“The degree of force used by Henderson … was within his reasonable belief that it was necessary to effect the arrest and could not be considered … to be disproportionate to the evil to be prevented,” he said.
The trial continues.
