A judge has thrown out assault charges against former policeman Nicholas Coc-Kroft.
The 42-year-old brother of television personality Lana Coc-Kroft appeared at a defended hearing in the Auckland District Court yesterday.
He was facing charges of disorderly behaviour, assault and resisting arrest.
Judge Caroline Henwood dismissed the charges before Coc-Kroft's
lawyer, Chris Comeskey, called any witnesses, saying the prosecution had failed to prove its case.
The man alleged to have been assaulted during an altercation at Foodtown in Greenlane last October 15, Anwar Mohammed, was now in Canada and unable to give any evidence, and none of the bystanders gave evidence.
The only two witnesses presented by the prosecution were the arresting constables, Nicholas Herd and Iakopo Felise, and they provided conflicting evidence about whether Coc-Kroft actually touched Mr Mohammed.
Mr Comeskey said Coc-Kroft had initially been arrested for trespass - a charge dropped at the start of yesterday's hearing.
The assault charge was added three weeks after the incident, after Coc-Kroft took the matter of his treatment to the Police Complaints Authority.
Mr Herd said Mr Mohammed wanted time to think about laying an assault charge and the charge had nothing to do with Coc-Kroft's complaint.
Mr Comeskey said Coc-Kroft denied having touched Mr Mohammed, saying he had moved forward to look at his name tag. Coc-Kroft also denied using abusive language towards the officers.
Mr Comeskey said: "It is not disorderly to remonstrate or be disagreeable."
- NZPA
