A police officer has been charged with assaulting a suspected car thief in Whangarei.
A police officer has been charged with assaulting a suspected car thief in Whangarei.
A Whangarei policeman punched a suspected car thief who was handcuffed in the back of a police car until he slipped in an out of consciousness, a judge has heard.
Officer Richard Soper, 38, is on trial in Whangarei District Court charged with the assault of Wiremu Henare, now aged18, on August 27, last year. Soper has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Henare, who is a serving prisoner, told Judge Stan Thorburn he was driving a stolen Audi on the evening of August 27 last year, when police tried to stop him.
He took off, reaching speeds of up to 160km/h, and the car crashed at One Tree Point after he failed to take a left turn at speed.
Henare said as soon as he crashed, he left through the passenger door as the driver's door was blocked. He had run off over a paddock, before being brought down by a police dog that bit his calf.
He was then handcuffed and put in the back of a police car, where he says Soper punched him in the face many times.
"I felt scared. I thought it would stop if I told him the truth, so I told him what really happened, and I was punched further and I wasn't too sure if it was going to stop," Henare said.
"I was going in and out of consciousness. I couldn't defend myself because my hand[s] were handcuffed behind my back.
"I was really scared ... when I got to the police station I was treated by a doctor and I told him what happened in the car," Henare said.
He had also also told a female officer about the assault in the car, but did not make a formal complaint at first as he did not know who he could trust.
Henare was to be cross-examined by defence lawyer Arthur Fairley today, with the judge-alone trial set to last four days.
