Accused ‘high performers’
Taranaki police trio's experience, actions detailed
The officers at the centre of a manslaughter trial in New Plymouth were part of the “most high-performing section in South Taranaki”, a court has heard.
The three officers, who all have name suppression, are charged with manslaughter in relation to the death of 55-year-old Allen Ball.
In her opening statement to the jury yesterday, Crown prosecutor Cherie Clarke alleged the officers were grossly negligent in their duty of care to the victim and that this negligence was a causal factor in his death.
The manslaughter charge relates to the officers allegedly failing to provide the necessities of life, namely medical attention. If they had provided medical attention, the Crown alleges, it may have saved his life.
Giving evidence on day two of the trial in the High Court at New Plymouth, Senior Sergeant Karl Davie said the accused were part of a team he classified as “the most highperforming section in South Taranaki”.
“They’re the highest-performing team in a number of areas in our working group. They were the working group that I would always feel reassured they always do a really good job, were urgent about their work and really reliable and highperforming. They contribute in prevention measures, road policing . . . they’re the most high-performing section in South Taranaki.”
The court heard yesterday how police were called to a family harm incident at a property on May 31, 2019. Ball was handcuffed and placed into the back of a police car. He almost immediately began snoring and had to be carried into Hawera Police Station by six officers at 11.46am.
[The officers] got it
wrong. Defence counsel
He was placed in a cell and would ultimately lose consciousness. He was pronounced dead at 2.53am.
The Crown alleges the officers were grossly negligent in their duty after failing to seek medical assistance despite recognising him as “grossly intoxicated”.
Davie told the court Hawera Police Station only briefly held people after being processed, before they were given police bail to reappear in court at a later date. More serious arrests would be sent to New Plymouth.
He explained the layout of the station, how officers process people being arrested and who was in charge of them.
Asked by Clarke who was responsible for a person who had just been arrested, Davie said that would be the officer who made the arrest.
Davie is still giving evidence. In her opening remarks to the jury, defence counsel Susan Hughes, QC, said her client accepted that she made a mistake that day but that didn’t make her a criminal.
“We expect a great deal from police officers, we expect them to observe a level of duty of care . . . [client] is less than perfect but she is not a criminal.”
She told the jury there were two steps to consider when considering whether her client was guilty; whether Officer A breached their duty of care to Ball, and, if so, was that a major departure from the level of care expected.
Hughes said Ball died after “deliberately and covertly” ingesting
tramadol, codeine and alcohol. As to why her client didn’t seek medical assistance, her client believed Ball was “drunk and sleeping off a bender”.
Kylie Pascoe, counsel for Officer B, also told the jury that her client got it wrong, but he also believed Ball was sleeping off his intoxication.
“[Client] got it wrong.” However, getting it wrong was not the issue, it was determining whether there had been a major departure from the standard of care expected.
Andrew Laurenson, for Officer C, also agreed with Hughes and said his client did nothing different to other officers who were working that night but they hadn’t been charged.
The trial, before a jury of four men and seven women, kicked off yesterday and is being overseen by Justice Susan Thomas. The Crown will call 24 witnesses over the four weeks the matter is set down for.