Alleged victim of SA police brutality cannot be believed, nor can his recording, court told

Two allegedly brutal police officers have told a court their supposed victim can not be believed, nor the recording he made of their encounter.

A young man who says he was assaulted by police cannot be believed because he “distorts the truth” depending on “which way the wind is blowing,” a court has heard.

On Monday, counsel for two SA Police officers asked the Elizabeth Magistrates Court to also reject Matthew Odgers’ mobile phone audio recording of the alleged 2013 incident.

They argued the recording was unreliable due to “inaudible” sections that may excuse the way Andrew Allan Jaunay and Sean Gregory Hobbs acted toward Mr Odgers.

Previously, prosecutors alleged Mr Hobbs lifted Mr Odgers into the air with a one-handed choke and threw him backwards to the ground.

Mr Jaunay, they alleged, was recorded both threatening Mr Odgers in order to prevent him reporting the incident and saying he would lie about it if questioned.

On Monday, Jane Powell, for Mr Jaunay, said that recording did not amount to proof beyond reasonable doubt of the alleged incident.

“Some parts of the recording are inaudible, and it’s material that there are inaudible words … they could have been exculpatory (consistent with innocence) comments,” she said.

Anthony Allen, for Mr Hobbs, said Mr Odgers’ evidence should be rejected because he “had been less than frank with the court”.

He said Mr Odgers originally claimed to have been choked with two hands, changing that to one had mid-trial.

“He has a remarkable ability to change his story depending on which way the wind is blowing,” he said.

Andrew Allan Jaunay. Picture: AAP / David Mariuz.

Sean Gregory Hobbs. Picture: Kelly Barnes

Jaunay, 42, of Morphettville, and Hobbs, 33, of Torrensville, pleaded not guilty to aggravated assault causing harm.

The charges arose from a stop-and-search at Whyalla in October 2013, when Mr Odgers was 17 – at trial, prosecutors alleged he was struck by Jaunay and choked by Hobbs.

In the recording made on Mr Odgers’ mobile phone, a voice alleged to be Jaunay’s warns the then-teenager he will “hunt him down” if he complains of being assaulted.

Mr Odgers gave evidence at trial, saying it was “a miracle” his phone recorded the incident – because he did not realise the device had been activated.

His mother, meanwhile, told the court Jaunay was “aggressive, quite adrenaline-pumped” and “quite erratic” when she arrived on the scene.

Matthew Odgers, right, and his mother Maria, left. Picture: Kelly Barnes.

On Monday, Ms Powell said Mr Jaunay had told Mr Odgers not to “tell fairies”, meaning fairy tales, about the arrest but that had not made it on to the recording.

“The inaudible words have the potential to change the context (of the audible words),” she said.

Mr Allen said Mr Odgers had given “quite extraordinary” evidence about a “graphic” incident that in no way resembled accounts of other eyewitnesses.

“This was apparently such a terrifying, prolonged, violent, life-threatening incident – and no one else saw it,” he said.

“What did he say, immediately after, to his mother about being nearly ‘strangled to death’? Absolutely nothing, and how telling is that?”

Mr Odgers’ evidence was, he said, “embellishment” designed to “make his position better and make the position of the police worse”.

“He’s prepared to distort the truth to suit his own narrative,” he said.

Magistrate Ben Sale will hand down his verdict at a later date.