Cameras off during arrest

Man acquitted; police credibility questioned

A GLENORCHY man who was apparently capsicumsprayed while being arrested has been found not guilty of assaulting a policeman, with a magistrate questioning why officers failed to turn on their body-worn cameras during a heated chase and forced entry.

Stephen John Hunt, 35, appeared in the Hobart Magistrates Court on Wednesday after previously pleading not guilty to offences including escaping the clutches of police, arising out of the dramatic episode on July 9, 2019.

Magistrate Reg Marron said he wasn’t satisfied police had given Mr Hunt sufficient reason for arresting him.

He also said three police officers who gave evidence in court at times gave conflicting versions of events, and the fact the six police officers involved hadn’t activated their bodyworn cameras went against the credibility of the claims. The court was told on the night in question, police were called to an address in Windsor Street, Glenorchy, after a call was made about men trying to enter a property.

When they arrived, police observed a number of males in attendance, but Mr Marron said there was no evidence linking those men to the original complaint.

Police alleged Mr Hunt used abusive language before throwing rocks and woodchips in a constable’s face, then going on the run into a housing complex.

Two police officers followed him in hot pursuit, using their batons to ram through a unit’s front door.

While being arrested, one of the officers said Mr Hunt — who he said was subdued with capsicum spray — struck him with his fists.

But Mr Marron said there were plenty of opportunities for the police officers involved to activate their cameras, but they didn’t, and their failure to do so couldn’t be explained through the whole saga as something that was “simply overlooked”.

“That could not be said when they were forcing entry ... and were unsure of what circumstances they were about to face,” the magistrate said.

He added it was “difficult to conceive of circumstances” where activating the cameras would have been more appropriate. “In my view not activating body-worn cameras goes to the credibility of those accounts,” he said.

Mr Hunt was found not guilty of three counts of assaulting police, using abusive language to an officer, recklessly throwing a missile to the danger of another person, two counts of resisting police and one count of escape.

He will return to court on April 20 over other charges.