Creepy cop’s appeal fails
A former Waikato police officer who indecently assaulted a woman while giving self defence lessons has taken a fight to clear his name all the way to the Supreme Court.
But again Gregory David Waters, a 30 year police veteran, has had an appeal against his conviction dismissed.
Waters was sentenced to six months community detention and 12 months supervision in August last year after being found guilty by a jury trial on five counts of indecent assault.
He was acquitted on another charge. The charges relate to acts performed on a woman at her home in Cambridge on July 6, 2015, while Waters was providing self defence lessons.
During his off-duty time Waters was a chief instructor at a martial arts club in Hamilton.
At the one hour training session Waters touched the woman on her genitalia and breast, and performed pelvic thrusts against her from behind in his boxer shorts, under the guise of stretching and demonstrating martial arts moves.
Waters’ victim told the court during his trial that she now suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder, fears social situations and has trouble sleeping as a result of the offending.
A first appeal against his conviction to the Court of Appeal was unsuccessful.
Waters then appealed to the Supreme Court citing two reasons for his appeal.
In the first, Waters claimed that section 32 of the Evidence Act in which a ‘‘fact-finder not to be invited to infer guilt from defendant’s silence before trial’’ was employed.
This related to the woman’s evidence that Waters took off his trousers and she saw he had bruises on his thighs.
During cross examination the woman expressed disappointment that police told her Waters ‘‘refused to take his trousers off and prove there were no bruises there’’.
She went on to say she was ‘‘appalled that he said he was exercising his human rights’’.
Waters appealed stating the judge should have directed the jury not to draw inference from the right to silence.
The woman’s evidence was not correct in this case, the decision stated, the police had not alleged the applicant was asked to remove his pants but refused.
This was apparent on the video of Waters’ interview with police played at trial and confirmed by the unchallenged evidence at trial.
But the Court advised the section only applied where ‘‘it appears’’ a defendant has failed to answer a question.
It did not apply in this case due to the informal nature of the woman’s aside during evidence, the judge’s intervention and that it was ‘‘clearly unsupported by the Crown, and on evidence.’’
Waters secondly claimed a miscarriage of justice occurred when the judge failed to summarise the defence case during summing up.
In his summary, Judge Dawson told the jury the case was ‘‘one that sometimes referred to ...as he says, she says case’’.
He then said the complainant’s evidence was that the offending occurred, and that the applicant said it did not.
‘‘Counsel for the Crown and the defendant have outlined their arguments about who you should believe and why.
‘‘Those arguments will still be fresh in your memory.’’
Although the judge did not observe ‘‘good practice in failing to surmise both sides’ arguments, the court was satisfied the defence case was nonetheless understood by the jury as the case was not particularly complex, the closings and summing up took place on the same day and the jury were given detailed question trails.
The Court of Appeal had identified the error but concluded that the error had not resulted in any miscarriage of justice, the Supreme Court decision stated.
‘‘Nothing raised by the applicant suggests that assessment should be revisited.’’
The appeal was dismissed. Waters is no longer an employee of NZ Police.