Police not to blame for man's lost testicle, court told
A man lost a testicle because he was beaten by up to eight men, not because a police officer allegedly kneed him in the groin, a court has been told.
Sergeant Martin James Folan has pleaded not guilty in Auckland District Court to six charges of assault and one of injuring with intent to injure.
Giving evidence today, Joseph Hannam McGee said he was set upon by six to eight men outside a west Auckland bar in January 2010 and beaten so severely he lost consciousness and all memory of subsequent events.
Mr McGee was arrested for disorderly behaviour and resisting arrest after the incident and taken to Henderson police station, where he felt "some of the worst pain I've ever had" in his groin.
He said his testicle was swollen bigger than a tennis ball and he could not walk.
The doctor told him "he couldn't save it because it was literally like potato mash".
The Crown alleged it was Folan who inflicted the injury and was expected to present witness and video evidence to support this but defence counsel Richard Earwaker said it was a result of the beating.
Mr McGee had told the court he had only been punched and kicked in the head and upper body during the beating, contrary to an earlier statement in which he said he was kicked in the genitals.
"That's something you've thought of later, isn't it? Because that's what this man's on trial for," Mr Earwaker said.
Another of Folan's alleged victims, Minora Kea, gave evidence today claiming the officer assaulted him after he was arrested in December 2009.
As he was being processed, Mr Kea said Folan "came up, grabbed my neck, pushed his thumbs in and pushed me against the wall".
"I was fearing for my life."
He said he was unable to talk after the alleged assault and suffered ongoing problems because of the resulting neck injury.
Mr Earwaker questioned the validity of the Mr Kea's claims, pointing out he had made no mention of the neck injury until a year later.
Also giving evidence today was James Campbell, father of another alleged victim, Finn Campbell.
He told the court Folan had told him he had apprehended his son after letter boxes were vandalised and a trail had led to the teenager, who was then 16, and his friends.
"He told me Finn had been cheeky and had a bit of attitude towards him when he asked him some questions."
When Finn Campbell was let out of Folan's police car he was very distraught - "bordering on hysterical", Mr Campbell told the court.
"As soon as the car door was opened he was shouting, 'he elbowed me in the face'. We tried to calm him down, he ran off into the house but he was determined to lay a complaint."
Mr Campbell said his son had never been in trouble before and doubted he would have been abusive to the officer.
"To me, he was just a typical 16-year-old boy in that situation and he felt he was being unnecessarily harassed, well, that might be an extreme word but he felt he was being unnecessarily targeted."
Samuel Verdonk, who was allegedly kicked in the groin by Folan while in custody in November 2009, gave evidence today that he had no memory of the alleged assault but had a sore groin the next morning.
The resulting charge was laid after another police officer made a complaint.
The trial continues.
NZPA
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