Policeman found not guilty of assault

Press, 10 December 1981, Page 16

Policeman found not guilty of assault

PA Auckland A charge of assault laid against a police constable was dismissed in the District Court at Auckland. Lolesio Stowers, aged 26, of Birkenhead, had earlier denied the charge which related to an anti-Springbok tour protest in Khyber Pass Road on August 5. Judge Bergin said Stowers’s being a policeman was incidental to two questions — was there an assault, and was Stowers identified as a person who applied force to the complainant, Mrs Susan Bradford? The evidence established a confused and complicated situation on August 5, he said. Some citizens had broken . the law by spray-

painting slogans and policemen intervened after an earlier march.

The Judge said he paid particular regard to Mrs Bradford’s evidence, and also her husband’s evidence, and that of Leo Henry Shaw. These two witnesses identified Stowers as punching Mrs Bradford. She had become involved in a melee outside the premises of Lion Breweries, from which she was pulled out.

She had taken part in spray painting, and when interrupted ran towards a group, she said, to help a friend — all this while she was markedly pregnant. The Judge said there were discrepancies with other evi-

dence, bearing in mind that some must be expected. He said he w T as left in doubt exactly when Mrs Bradford’s injuries were inflicted, especially as she had been involved in a melee a short time before.

The Judge said he was not satisfied that Stowers was identified as using force to cause her injuries.

Even if he was identified, the circumstances were such that force used against Mrs Bradford was incidental in trying to repel angry people and to extricate himself and fellow policemen from a dangerous situation, the Judge said. Such force was justified in law and could not be classified as a deliberate assault.