Protester Convicted Of Assaulting Sergeant

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31579, 17 January 1968, Page 26

Protester Convicted Of Assaulting Sergeant

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, January 16. One of eight men facing charges arising from a clash between ' members of the Progressive Youth Movement and police in Paritai Drive on October 29 was convicted in the Magistrate’s Court at Auckland today of assaulting a police sergeant and resisting a constable.

The accused, John Roger Sawers, aged 21, unemployed, was remanded for sentence on Monday by Mr D. G. Sinclair, S.M. The seven other accused were remanded until tomorrow.

Sawers was charged with assaulting Sergeant Anthony Widdop Tremewan, assaulting Constable Robert Lawrence Kerr, and resisting Constable Kerr and wilfully damaging his watch and tie. He pleaded not guilty.

Mr D. S. Morris appeared for the Crown. Mr B. K. Shenkin represented Sawers. Sergeant Tremewan said he went to Paritai Drive about 4.30 p.m. and walked up and down in front of the crowd to keep people on the grass verge. The crowd was chanting and shouting words like “Ges|tapo, thugs, Government lackeys and fascists” at the police. As he walked past Sawers. the youth waved a flag and thrust it in his face. The witness took bold of the flag and pushed it aside. “Sawers grabbed me. I think by the upper arms,” Sergeant Tremewan said. “He wouldn't let me go. We struggled and fell to the ground.” While on the ground, the

witness was kicked by other members of the crowd. He saw Inspector G. Rees, the officer in charge, disappear over a cliff. The witness freed himself to go to the inspector’s assistance. Struggle Near Fence Later, he saw Constable Kerr struggling with Sawers near the fence. Some members of the crowd were trying to kick the constable and he tried to keep the crowd back. Cross-ex mined, he said he was upset by the words being used by members of the crowd. The flag Sawers was holding meant nothing to the- witness. He might have asked Sawers to put the flag down because he did not like it being waved in his face, but

he had no intention of taking it away. Flag Waved Constable Kerr said he saw Sawers waving a flag in Sergeant Tremewan’s face. Sawers seemed to lose his temper and “come at” the sergeant They started scuffling. Later he saw the youth lunge at the sergeant from behind. The witness pulled Sawers off the sergeant. While the witness was struggling with Sawers, he was kicked by another man who was saying; “Leave my son alone.” In the struggle his tie was ripped off and he lost his watch. Opening the defence, Mr Shenkin said the young people set out to make a peaceful demonstration which they believed they had every right to do. None of the incidents, would have arisen if the police had used tact and restraint. Sawers had not wanted violence, but violence had been forced on him. “Vented Spleen” Some of the police, taken from their barracks on the Sunday afternoon, were upset about it and “vented their spleen” on the demonstrators. The Magistrate dismissed the charge of assaulting Constable Kerr and the charge of wilfully damaging his watch. He was not satisfied there was sufficient evidence on these. Sawers, in evidence, said that he was now unemployed. On the day of the demonstrations he was carrying a Progressive Youth Movement flag. The decision to protest at the American Consul’s residence was a spontaneous one He had heard Inspector Rees say that they should not go any further and later that they were an unlawful assembly. Sergeant Tremewan told him to put the flag down. He refused and the sergeant tried to grab the flag. When he would not let it go the sergeant grabbed him and they fell to the ground struggling. Thrown To Ground

The sergeant left him and he got up. He went to talk to John Gabolinscy and was

thrown to the ground by a constable. He had not attacked the sergeant, he said. He had not been told with what he was charged until he reached the Central Police Station. There he and others were thumped and hit as they walked between two rows of policemen, said Sawers. To Mr Morris, Sawers aaid that he had not waved the flag about. He had not grabbed the sergeant at any time. He did not usually hold hands with his father but agreed that a photograph showed hi* father holding his hands. Sawers aaid he had not complained to Inspector Rees or any on* else about having to run the gauntlet at th* police station. He told the Magistrate that a placard referring to “Black and Tans” had not been'carried by anyone connected with his group. His group respected law-enforcement officers. He had thought the inspector wrong in describing the demonstrations a* an unlawful assembly. “We put a lot of value in the declaration of human rights where people are allowed the right to assemble,” he said.

Father Arrested William John Sawers, father of the accused, said he saw three policemen on his son. He pulled one off and v s himself arrested. Mr Sawers said he had at no time restrained his son. Shown a photograph, he then agreed that he was shown holding his son back. Richard Kemp Fowler, a student, said that the sergeant had tried to take the flagstaff from Sawers. Sawers had not pushed the flag into the sergeant’s face. Later he saw three policemen on Sawers. They were punching him. To Mr Morris, Mr Fowler said the Progressive Youth Movement’s flag was the Southern Cross on a green background. Mr Fowler aaid he did not understand a placard, “Get out of Vietnam, Yankee Black and Tans." Witnesses’ Accounts Mr* Susan Lindsey Gabolinscy said that she saw the sergeant try to take the flag from Sawers. Graeme Harold McLay, a drughouse worker, said that a constable came running at Sawers and tried to take the flag from him, and pushed him to th* ground. John Robert Hartley Gabolinscy, a teacher, Mid that the sergeant told Sawers to take the flag down. Sawers refused and the sergeant threw himself at him and bora him to the ground. The Magistrate, dismissing the second wilful dam: e charge, said that it was possible that it was not Sawers who had damaged the constable’s tie. Hostile Witnesses The photograph showed that there had been considerable violence and that each of the defence witnesses except Mrs Gabolinscy had been involved. They were all members of one organisation and, with the exception of Mrs Gabolinscy, hostile to the police. This hostility had led to colouration of their evidence which detracted from its value. He accepted the evidence of the prosecution concerning the assault on th* sergeant and resisting the constable. Sawers would be convicted of both, said the Magistrate. Bail was fixed at $2OO with a surety of $2OO.