KEY POINTS:
Police have defended their decision to charge a man accused of assaulting his children, although prosecutors eventually offered no evidence.
Ngatokovia "Junior" Kenny, understood to also use the surname Nooroa, was arrested on December 10 after what police say was an early-morning assault on his two young girls.
He had allegedly hit his 5-year-old daughter with an open hand on the back of the head, then swung a pair of jeans at his 6-year-old daughter, hitting her on the side of the head.
Police opposed bail for Kenny, claiming the 31-year-old lacked remorse for his alleged actions, was a likely flight risk and was likely to interfere with witnesses if he was released.
Investigators also said they were concerned Kenny might assault his daughters again.
But despite these early concerns, police ultimately offered noevidence when the matter went toa defended hearing in the Auckland District Court on Thursday.
The move infuriated Kenny's lawyer, Tony Bouchier, who yesterday claimed police were more concerned with being seen to be doing something about the anti-smacking law and domestic violence.
"It's like so many laws the Parliament has passed ... where once you give the police the power or the statute ... they leverage off it," he told the Weekend Herald yesterday.
"They don't really use it for the proper purpose."
Craig Kitto of Auckland police prosecutions said yesterday police initially felt charging Kenny was justified, and social services were sent to check on the family situation.
When Child, Youth and Family reported it was happy with the conditions in which the children wereliving, prosecutors then had to decide whether it was worth putting thechildren through the trauma of giving evidence in court.
Mr Kitto also rejected a suggestion by Mr Bouchier that political correctness and an obsession with policing the anti-smacking law clouded police actions.
Kenny had been charged under the Crimes Act, which predates any anti-smacking legislation, and last-minute decisions to continue - or halt - prosecutions were common, he said.
Kenny's partner Missy Ririnui said yesterday she had no complaints about police charging him with smacking their children. She said she was standing by him, "but not standing by what he did".
The Weekend Herald visited the family's Glen Innes state house yesterday. Kenny refused to come out, but Ms Ririnui said police were right to charge him, as "they obviously thought it was a serious thing".
Ms Ririnui said that Kenny had previous convictions, including for assaulting her, but he had never before been violent towards the children.
Ms Ririnui was not home when the police were called to the incident by relatives who lived next door.
"He has to learn to keep his hands to himself. If he was convicted, I told him I would not be bringing the kids to visit him in jail."
