Navy police officer fell hitting head before alleged assault
A naval police officer allegedly placed a hand on the throat of a subordinate after a night of drinking, but has no recollection of what happened because of a head injury.
The senior non-commissioned officer of the Royal New Zealand Navy, who has interim name suppression until the verdict is delivered, faces one charge of assaulting a junior colleague on a naval ship in February.
The officer pleaded not guilty before Judge Kevin Riordan and a military panel at a court martial at the Devonport Naval Base yesterday.
The court martial heard the officer was drinking with peers on board the ship during a respite weekend for the crew.
The accused, whose gender cannot be identified, said they were dancing when they fell and hit their head on a wooden coffee table, and to avoid embarrassment, pretended the fall was a dance move.
“People were pointing at me and laughing,” the officer said in a recorded interview played in court.
“I lay on the ground for some time,” they said. “I carried on dancing . . . but that kind of hurt.”
Later, the defendant allegedly stumbled into a mess room for junior officers, where they chatted briefly with junior colleague Able Steward AFT Leautuli-Talitonu before standing up and falling over a second time, hitting the back of their head on a firm vinyl sofa.
Giving testimony in court, Leautuli-Talitonu likened the blow to the defendant’s head to a “sharp jab” from a “16-ounce boxing glove”.
He was escorting the defendant to the bathroom with another officer, Able Logistics Supply Specialist PJK Maka, when, in the hallway, the defendant allegedly asked Maka why he was “eyeing them up”, and placed their hand on Maka’s throat for several seconds.
He froze. It happened quickly and the defendant did not use much force, he said, and his breathing was not impeded in any way.
He described the defendant as stumbling with eyes that were not focused, and that the accused reeked of alcohol.
Two other officers later found the defendant in a cabin lying in a pool of their own vomit.
The defendant said their last memory of the evening was dancing in the senior rates mess where they hit their head the first time.
The officer later woke about 4am and called their partner before having some food and going back to sleep.
The next morning, the defendant apologised to Maka after hearing what happened.
“I was in shock, disgusted, mortified really. Why are people saying I did something? I don’t remember it,” the defendant said.
The hearing continues today.