Flori charge struck out
Former officer still facing second misconduct count
ONE of the misconduct charges against former high ranking Gold Coast police officer Rick Flori has been struck out on the fifth day of the trial.
Flori still faces, in the Southport District Court, one charge of misconduct for leaking CCTV footage showing four officers “beating” a prisoner allegedly to bring one of those officers into disrepute.
The second charge of misconduct which causes detriment to the Queensland Police Commissioner dropped.
The footage leaked relates to an incident on January 29, 2012 and shows Senior Constable Benjamin Lamb punching and kneeing Noa Begic repeatedly.
District duty officer Senior Sergeant David Joachim is seen washing blood off the cement.
It is Mr Joachim, who retired in December 2013, Flori is alleged to have brought into has been disrepute. Defence barrister Saul Holt said there was no other reason for Flori to release the tape, but to bring to light the allegations.
He told the court the footage was unlikely to have seen the light of day without Flori releasing it.
Mr Holt said Flori “complained” about multiple pieces of misconduct.
“This is a person who has spent his career with a single minded determination to point out things which are wrong,” he said.
Mr Holt said Flori was not targeting Mr Joachim with the release of tape.
During the trial the court heard Flori had mentioned to other colleagues he was concerned if Mr Joachim was fit for the job of district duty officer.
Crown prosecutor Todd Fuller said the sole reason Flori released the tape in February 2012 was to target Mr Joachim.
Mr Fuller said during his summing up of the case that Flori was “in pains” to point out that another officer told him Mr Joachim would “get the sack” for what is shown during the video.
Flori made the comments during a police search of his home for a copy of the CCTV footage.
Mr Fuller said Flori knew the footage had the potential to damage Mr Joachim’s career.
“(Flori) had no role to play in the investigation of it,” he said. The trial is expected to conclude today.