CHARGE OF ASSAULT AGAINST CONSTABLE: POLICE EVIDENCE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22907, 29 March 1949, Page 6

CHARGE OF ASSAULT AGAINST CONSTABLE: POLICE EVIDENCE

The hearing 'was adjourned until April 7 and there are six more witnesses to be called by the Crown. Mr. J. H. Salmon, S.M., presided, and the police were represented by Mr. N. R. Bain, Crown solicitor at Wanganui. Pointon was represented by Mr. J. Meltzer, of Wellington. In opening the case. Mr. Bain said that the allegation that a police constable had assulted a man was a serious matter. The police force had a high reputation of which it was justifiably proud and when such an accusation was made it deserved the most searching enquiry. Martin alleges that the assault occurred when he refused to sign a statement typed by-the accused. In evidence, Martin said on December 24 he was in a lorry that collided with a bridge near Hunterville. Witness received a cut beside the right eye and the other man in the truck received a broken leg and head injuries. . On the afternoon of December 28 witI ness was in the Station Hotel, Hunter- ► ville. The accused, who witness did not then know, was there in plain clothes. The accused asked witness his name and said he wanted to- see him' later. Witness said: “Right-o” but did not ask accused his name.

Witness: Yes, I have.

“You Come With Me”

About 9 p.m. witness met a friend talking to Pointon who said to witness: “You come with me.’’ Witness then knew who he was. ’ Witness did.not know whether the accused was sober but he walked all right. At the police station witness sat down and Pointon took his name, address and occupation and told him to take everything out of his pockets. Pointon was typing while asking questions. Pointon asked where witness had been on Christmas Eve and how many drinks he had. Witness said he had been to a gentlemen’s club and had two beers. Pointon took a sheet from the typewriter and told him to sign it. Witness said: “I can’t sign it.” Accused said: “It’s a statement and you have to sign “ it.”.

Witness again said he could not sign it and, with no further word, accused jumped up and hit witness on the bridge of the nose with his open hand. “Blood Poured from Nose”

“Blood poured from my nose and I had my head down,’ said witness. “He hit me on the head, round the ears hard with both hands about 12 times. He was talking while he was doing it but I don't know what he was saying.” Witness said he did not see the statement and he did not thiftk the one produced in court, dated December 28 was the one he signed. Witness said he used two handkeri chiefs and saturated them with blood from his nose. He was in the station well over an hour, he thought. After the incident Pointon said: “Promise me you will not say anything about this.”

Witness promised and the accused said: “Can I trust you?”

Witness said “yes.” He indentified clothes bearing bloodstains produced in court as' the ones he was wearing that night. Continuing his evidence, Witness said he signed the statement fearing further punishment and the accused then got a bottle of methylated spirits and said: “I’ll clean you up” He attempted to clean witness’ trousers below the left knee but the spirits did not move the blood and he did not attempt to take the blood off his shirt.

Witness then described how he was taken to the bathroom of accused’s home where he had a wash. ,

Told to Keep Month Shut

The accused then got his car and said he would take witness to the scene of the accident on Christmas Eve. He did not get out of the car and the accused then drove him back to Hunterville.

Earlier, witness said the accused had told him to go straight back to Taihape and keep his mouth shut. When he got to the house where witness was staying Pointon told him to. go straight to bed. Witness was sitting in the kitchen when a man named Griffin entered. Griffin asked him what had happened and witness said he police had been knocking him about

The following morning witness and Griffin saw Pointon and walked into town with him Nothing was said about the previous night. Griffin and witness then came through to Wanganui, calling at a doctor’s residence in Marton. Witness wanted something for a headache and for his nose which was very sore. The doctor was not in, however, and they then came to Wanganui where witness went to the police station and reported the assault, witness continued. Doctor’s Evidence Evidence of being called to the accident on December 24 when a truck ran into a concrete bridge was given by Dr. N. J. Mcllroy, of Hunterville. A man named English had a fractured leg and Martin a small superficial wound on the outer edge of the right eyebrow. The wound was bleeding but did not require attention. Witness saw Martin in the surgery later and got the impression that he had been drinking. ■ Edgar Ronald Griffin, an inspector employed by the Hunterville Rabbit Board, said he had known Martin for about 12 years. He described Martin’s clothes after the accident on December 24. On December 28, said witness, he was in the hotel with Martin and several others when Pointon came in about 5 p.m. and shouted for them- He (Pointon) remained until about 6 o’clock and had eight or nine drinks. “I would say he was sober,” witness added.»

Witness then referred to what happened after the pictures that night. When witness got home from the pictures. Martin was in the kitchen of his (Griffin’s) house.

Bruises on Face

‘‘He looked to me as though he was slightly' dazed,” said witness. “His face was quite clean but there were bruises and a swelling on the bridge of his nose, on both eyes and behind his ears- Both eyes were discoloured and practically black next morning.” Witness said he saw blood on Martin’s clothes and could smell methylated spirits. Martin was a sick man for three days. Witness met Pointon next day but said nothing about the alleged assault. On December 30, witness continued, he saw Pointon at Dr. Mcllroy’s and told him that Martin was “crook.” Pointon said: “What is wrong with him?"

Witness replied: ‘'You ought to know. He was in good order when you took him out of my hands last night, but he was in a hang of a mess when you brought him home-” Pointon had said then: “Who, me?” Witness continued. Witness replied: “If it wasn’t you, I don’t know who it was.”

Covered in Blood

When Martin had arrived home he Was covered in blood. When witness told Pointon that, Pointon had replied that he had seen Martin picking at sores beside his eyes. Pointon had said that Martin was in his office but that ho did not get a statement. Cross-examined by Mr. Meltzer, witness admitted that, at first, he refused to make a statement but later did so- He did not think' the Wanganui police treated Martin well in keeping him so long when ' he made statements on December 29 and 30. On one occasion, he was with them three hours

Mr. Meltzer: You don’t seem tp have i much faith in the police?

(P.A.) WANGANUI, March 29. Allegations that a police constable at Hunterville, John Morris Poiilton, assaulted him at the police station on December 28, were made in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday by James Leslie Darcy Martin, a saddler, of Taihape. Pointon was charged with assault, and pleaded not guilty.

Mr. Meltzer: Then you thought the best way of helping the police to obtain information was by saying nothing. Witness replied that he had discussed the matter with a Hunterville solicitor and was advised not to make a statement. Later, however, he agreed to make a statement to a sergeant. Magistrate’s Questions In reply to the magistrate, witness said that when he went to Wanganui on December 29 Martin attempted to see a doctor in Marton, but the doctor was outThe magistrate: Was he taken to a doctor in Wanganui? Witness: No.

The magistrate: Was he taken to a doctor when you got back to Hunterville?

Witness: No. He went straight to bed when he got back.

The magistrate: If Martin wanted to be examined by a doctor on December 29 why. did he not attempt to see one in Wanganui? Witness: After he came out of the police station he said he was sick of it and wanted to go home. The magistrate: He was so long in the police station? Witness: Yes.