Mother of boy allegedly bashed by SA police officers at Whyalla thought they were trying to help him

This woman heard her son screaming and rushed to his side – only to find the police she thought had rescued him had, allegedly, assaulted the boy.

Matthew Odgers and his mother Maria Odgers outside Adelaide Magistrates Court. Picture: Kelly Barnes

A mother who heard her son screaming for help over the phone thought SA Police at the scene were helping him, not assaulting him, a court has heard.

Maria Odgers has also told the Adelaide Magistrates Court that officer Andrew Allan Jaunay was “aggressive, quite adrenaline-pumped” and “quite erratic” after knocking her son to the ground.

On Tuesday, she told the court she asked Jaunay for his name, and that of the other officer present, but he “would never give it to me”.

“When I pulled up in my car, he (Jaunay) aggressively pushed a piece of paper through my window saying ‘there’s no need to get out of the car, you need to sign this, we just have to talk to Matthew’,” she said.

“He was quite adrenaline-pumped, breathing heavily and quite erratic.

“I said ‘apparently someone has been assaulting my son, hitting my son’ and Matthew said ‘it was him, it was f***ing him, he’s been hitting me’.

SA police officer Andrew Jaunay outside the Adelaide Magistrates Court after an earlier hearing, in 2017. Picture: AAP / David Mariuz

Sean Hobbs walks from the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday. Picture: Kelly Barnes

“Jaunay replied ‘if you believe that, you must be crazy’ – which is quite insulting and unprofessional – and I said ‘looking at Matthew, yes, I do believe him’ because I could see he had marks on his face and was quite shaken up.”

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

The charges arise from a stop and search at Whyalla in October 2013, when Matthew Odgers was 17.

Prosecutors have alleged Mr Odgers was struck by Jaunay and choked by Hobbs.

Previously, the trial has heard recordings made, on a mobile phone, of a conversation between Jaunay and Mr Odgers following on from the alleged assault.

In them a voice, alleged to be Jaunay’s, warns Mr Odgers he will “hunt him down” if he complains of being assaulted.

Matthew Odgers with his mother Maria outside court on Monday. Picture: Kelly Barnes

Giving evidence on Tuesday, Mrs Odgers said she was on her way to pick up her son – who had a court-imposed 10pm curfew – when she called him to check on his location.

“He answered the phone and he said ‘mum, you need to f***ing come get me quickly’, he screamed and then the phone cut out,” she said.

“I panicked, I probably sped down the street, I thought he was being attacked and they (Jaunay and Hobbs) were there helping him.”

She said that, after the conversation that was recorded, Jaunay and Hobbs moved to leave the scene.

“I was asking his name, which he never gave me … he said Matthew ‘should be under arrest, but I can’t be bothered arresting little boys’,” she said.

“I replied, ‘I don’t think a man needs to be hitting little boys’.

“Jaunay continued to say something to us as he walked off, saying ‘we’ll be seeing you Matthew, better hurry up with your curfew, we’ll be following you’.

“I said ‘please do, we’ll be going straight to the police station and putting you up for assault.”

The trial, before Magistrate Ben Sale, continues.