Farmer sues for malicious arrest

A South Auckland farmer who says he was arrested "in a fit of spite" is suing the police for $825,000.

Keith Alwyn Caie, aged 52, of Onewhero, said he emerged from Mt Eden Prison a "broken" man after he was refused bail and spent a ghastly week in custody.

"This has just been one long nightmare and should never happen to anyone else," he told Justice Robert Fisher in the High Court at Auckland yesterday.

Mr Caie is suing the police for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.

He was arrested at his farm on October 6, 1998, after the armed offenders squad and the Eagle helicopter were deployed.

Mr Caie was initially arrested for threatening behaviour. Police say he was abusive and irrational - a claim denied by Mr Caie. There had been an incident a month earlier where a man in the area had shot one of his boars.

Mr Caie's lawyer Paul Dale, appearing with Fiona O'Sullivan, told Justice Fisher that police had accused Mr Caie of being another Schlaepfer - a reference to the Paerata farmer who murdered his family and shot himself in 1992. Mr Caie swore at the officer.

Mr Dale said it was only on the way to the police station that Mr Caie was told he was being charged with threatening behaviour.

"He was arrested in a fit of spite by Constable [Deane] Borrell, abetted by Constable [Geoffrey] Knight ... "

At the police station, the officers consulted Sergeant Richard Spendelow and "obviously decided" that the charge could not be justified. They charged Mr Caie with an offence under the Arms Act instead, said Mr Dale.

Mr Caie, a licensed gun owner who often carried a gun, had been seen with two weapons that day.

"The plaintiff's case is that at the time the charge was laid the police officers knew that Mr Caie had not committed any offence and that he had been wrongly arrested. The decision to charge him with the more serious offence was simply to justify his unlawful detention."

Mr Dale added that before appearing in the Papakura District Court the next day, Mr Caie was assessed by a "duly authorised officer" (DAO) under the mental Health Act who found him aggrieved but showing no signs of mental illness.

However, at the bail hearing police told the district court judge that the DAO had recommended a full psychiatric assessment.

There were also inaccuracies relating to threats Mr Caie was alleged to have made against the man who shot his boar.

Mr Dale said this was "seriously misleading information which was almost certainly central to the decision to remand Mr Caie in custody for a further week."

In May the following year, Justice Simon Lockhart found there was no prima facie case and the charge was dismissed.

Mr Dale told the court: "While the officers might have been justified in going on to the property and speaking to Mr Caie, the decision to peremptorily arrest without justification is bad enough, but the continued detention and misleading the court makes the issue of exemplary and aggravated damages of particular importance."

The Attorney-General, represented by Ross Burns and Kim Hastie, denies the claims.