Solicitor: Cop’s act ‘abuse of authority’

Ateenage love affair led to a police inspector’s emotions running high and resulted in “an abuse of power and authority” with an alleged kidnapping, a jury has heard. Inspector Hurimoana Dennis, 52, and Sergeant Vaughan Perry, 45, have been on trial in the High Court at Auckland for the past two weeks before a jury and Justice Edwin Wylie.

They were jointly charged with twice kidnapping a then 17-year-old boy in 2015.

The young Auckland man, now 19, alleges the inspector and sergeant locked him in a prison cell, threatened him with a rape charge, and “deported” him to Australia to end his relationship with a 15-year-old girl.

Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey yesterday asked the jury to consider the social reality of teenage behaviour.

“These two young persons are going to have a sexual relationship with each other. History tells us this, life experience tells us this,” he said.

“Sure it’s . . . risky, sure they shouldn’t be doing it, [but] they are not the first teenagers to fall in love and act recklessly,” he said.

The teens’ families had been arguing over the relationship and before the alleged kidnapping the boy’s mother filed a formal complaint with police about her son.

But Detective Sergeant Neil Hilton, the officer tasked with the complaint, determined that no charges should be laid.

Dickey said there was no public interest in charging the teen with statutory rape.

The prosecutor asked the jury: “Isn’t it better that the two remain under [the girl’s mum’s] roof, rather than run off?”

They are not the first teenagers to fall in love and act recklessly. Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey

The teen boy was living at his girlfriend’s home as the two families feuded, and Dickey added there was no debate about if the boy was allowed to live there.

“He was a 17-year-old and he was entitled to live where he chose. And . . . that is the law.”

However, Dennis’ counsel Stephen Bonnar, QC, said the teen was committing a crime and wasn’t just in breach of 1950s ideals.

“We have this irony that the Crown solicitor at Auckland [Dickey] says the law doesn’t matter when it comes to underage sex, but the law is all that matters when it comes to Mr Dennis.

“It’s the present law that a 17-year-old can’t have sex with a 15-year-old,” Bonnar said.

With the boy’s family growing more upset, Dennis, a family friend and the police national Maori strategic adviser, organised a “mock arrest” to scare the teen off the relationship, the court has heard.

The 17-year-old was processed at the Auckland Central Police Station on May 5, 2015, as though he had been arrested by Dennis and Perry, the duty custody sergeant.

The teen told the court during his testimony: “[Dennis] said to me I could either go to Australia or, option two . . . I’d be charged for statutory rape.

“At the time [Dennis] said I’d serve a minimum of 14 years. At that point I was really scared.”

Perry’s lawyer Todd Simmonds said his client believed they were “role playing” and that it was a “consensual mock arrest”.

Agreeing to leave rather than face criminal charges, the teen was escorted to Auckland Airport and placed on a flight to Sydney.

“Is this the [police policy] turning of the tide? Is this policing in action? Job done,” Dickey said.

Dennis said during his police interview that he was acting in line with police strategy to keep young Maori out of prison, a policy known as the turning of the tide.

On June 10, 2015, the teen decided to “escape” Sydney and return to New Zealand.

However, Dennis “swung into action”, the court has heard, and arranged for armed police to usher the teen off the aircraft. He then placed the boy on another flight back to Australia, the court has heard.

Dickey said Dennis’ actions could be described as “poor policing”, which “takes us into the realm of an abuse of power and authority”.