An assault charge against a serving Central Otago police officer accused of repeatedly punching a young graffiti tagger has been dismissed.
The officer appeared before Judge John Strettell in the Alexandra District Court yesterday on a charge of Crimes Act assault in a police station cell in late 2014.
Defence counsel Nic Soper applied for the charge to be dismissed on the grounds there were two officers in the cell at the time and the complainant did not know which officer had punched him.
Both officers claimed the other had punched the victim, he said.
The Otago Daily Times cannot name the defendant or the other officer involved after Judge Strettell continued interim name suppression for the defendant.
The ODT also cannot name the town where the assault occurred.
Judge Strettell put off making a ruling on permanent name suppression, asking counsel for the Crown, defence and the second police officer to file submissions on the issue by August 5.
The court heard how the defendant took the complainant to the town's police station on October 9, 2014, on suspicion of carrying out tagging in the area.
After the complainant resisted the defendant's attempt to remove his jacket to obtain evidence, the second officer entered the cell.
Both officers pushed the defendant on to the bed and, while holding him down, one of them punched the complainant several times.
Crown Counsel Robin Bates did not oppose the application to dismiss the charge.
Mr Bates said the charge would not have been laid if the "contradictory'' evidence before the court had been available at the outset.
Both police officers involved were subject to police employment and disciplinary action "so it's not the case that the matter is not going to be dealt with in some shape or form''.
Judge Strettell told Mr Soper it was likely "everybody'' in the town knew where the incident had happened.
By granting the defendant permanent name suppression, the standing of every police officer in the town would come into question.
Mr Soper said he could not comment on the town's "gossip network'', but the defendant was aware permanent suppression would have implications for the town's other police officers, and would not "die in a ditch'' to have the application granted.
