Two men found guilty of assaulting constable

Press, 25 July 1984, Page 4

Two men found guilty of assaulting constable

Two men who were stopped by a constable in Ferry Road after they had driven in a converted car from Lyttelton were convicted in the District Court yesterday of a charge of assaulting the constable, who had arrested them and was awaiting the arrival of other police assistance. In his decision, Judge Kerr held that the constable concerned had been justified in using his long baton during - events that followed his arrest of the three men. He convicted two men, John Patrick Bourke, aged 18 (Mr E. Bedo), and Robert Tui Toko Sadlier, aged 24 (Mr M. J. Knowles), both council labourers, on a charge against each of assaulting Constable S. J. Hughes in the

execution of his duty, on May 10. Bourke and Sadlier had denied this charge, and charges of unlawfully taking a car from a hotel car-park in Lyttelton. The car conversion charge against each defendant was dismissed. The Judge remanded Bourke in custody to July 31 for sentence on the assault charge and on a separate charge, to which he pleaded guilty yesterday, of delivering two white tablets to an inmate at Addington Prison on June 11. Sadlier was fined $l5O on the assault charge. Both defendants had denied the car conversion and assault charges. Sergeant W. P. Creasey prosecuted. Prosecution evidence was given, that after a man’s car

had been taken from a hotel car-park in Lyttelton on May 10, Constable S. J. Hughes stopped it in Ferry Road. Sadlier was driving and Bourke and another person were passengers. The constable told them they were under arrest and they made off but the constable followed them into a property. He stopped them in the driveway and made them stand against a fence. Sadlier then told the others, “let’s get him,” and he grabbed the constable and the others joined in. In the struggle that followed the constable was held and punched by Sadlier, and kicked by Bourke in the stomach and a thigh. He drew his long baton and used it.

The defendants then made off. They were apprehended soon after when other police, and a tracker dog, arrived. Bourke said in a statement to the police that he left a hotel in Lyttelton and saw three persons in a car and was asked if he wanted a lift to Christchurch. He got into the car and travelled with them until stopped by the police. Sadlier, in a written statement, said he had been in a hotel during the afternoon and evening. Bourke offered him a drive in his car. He drove it towards Christchurch, until the police stopped them. He said he “did not know what was going on,” or that the car had been stolen. Without calling on defence evidence, the Judge accepted submissions by Mr Bedo that there was no case to answer in the charge against Bourke of unlawfully taking the car. He also dismissed the same charge against Sadlier, after he had given evidence. . The Judge, said it was clear that somebody unlawfully took the car. He held, however, that the police had not disproved that either defendant thought the vehicle was lawfully owned, and that they had colour of right to drive in it. The evidence of the two defendants in the assault charge was that the constable had used the baton on their legs when instructing

them to stand with thenlegs apart, facing a walk They had then pushed ’the constable in retaliation, and made off. Mr Knowles submitted that Sadlier had acted in self-defence against the use of the baton. The Judge found this charge against the two Eed. He found it had “prudent" of the constable to arm himself with the baton when he was placing the three men under arrest, and awaiting the arrival of other police. The Judge said the constable probably used the baton to persuade the men to keep their legs apart against the wall. He said that, bearing in mind that the constable was alone with the men, and that they had run off once before, he saw nothing improper in what the constable did. The Judge held that Constable Hughes acted in the execution of his duty, and that his use of the baton was justified, and that the two defendants’ actions clearly constituted an assault on him. Sergeant Creasey said in relation to the charge against Bourke of delivering two white pills to a prison inmate that Bourke had visited the prisoner and was seen to hand him two pills. The prisoner swallowed them before a prison officer could intervene. Bourke said when questioned that the items were peppermints.