University student jailed over savage city laneway attack on off-duty police officer

This is the sickening moment a university commerce student and two accomplices savagely beat a barely conscious police officer in an Adelaide laneway — all because he filmed them breaking the law.

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A man who coward-punched a police officer before kicking and stomping on his head as he lay barely conscious on the ground will spend at least 18 months behind bars.

Footage released by the District Court shows the shocking ambush assault unfold in late 2015.

Wol Magot Door, 26, a University of Adelaide commerce student with a nursing diploma, pleaded guilty to aggravated causing harm with intent and aggravated theft over the incident.

Distressing CCTV vision of the assault shows Door punch the officer in the head while his attention is focused on the other two offenders. Door and his accomplices then viciously kick, punch and stomp on the unarmed, off-duty officer.

Judge Wayne Chivell said the “deeply shocking” incident occurred after the officer witnessed Door and two others jumping and hitting overhead signs as they walked along Rundle Mall on November 1, 2015.

Wol Magot Door — wearing the black shirt — was described as the ringleader of the attack.

One sign was damaged as a result, and the officer began following the group while taking photographs. When confronted, he identified himself as a police officer and kept following the trio while talking on the phone to police dispatchers.

“(Taking photographs) was both his right and his duty as a police officer,” Judge Chivell said.

“In one sense, police officers are never off duty. Their oath is to keep the peace and that is not limited to occasions when they are on duty.”

The court heard the group walked into York St, a laneway near Hindmarsh Square. Door concealed himself in an alcove and waited for the officer to walk past as he followed the other two people in the group.

“While the victim was concentrating on the other two men, you hit him with a forceful blow to the back of his head,” Judge Chivell said.

“This was what has become known as a ‘coward punch’, in every sense of those words.

“(The officer) is a big strong man, but he lost consciousness almost immediately.

“While (the officer) was laying semi-conscious and helpless on the pavement, all three of you then proceeded to kick and stomp on his head.

“At one point, (Door) picked up (the officer’s) iPhone and used the edge of it as a weapon to hit him in the head.”

Wol Magot Door used the police officer’s iPhone to repeatedly hit him over the head.

Door stole the phone to get rid of the evidence of the group’s “earlier and relatively minor wrongdoing”.

Door and his companions ran off and left the officer barely conscious in the street. Members of the public came to his aid before a police patrol arrived.

The officer recovered from his physical injuries but still suffers psychological symptoms, the court was told.

Judge Chivell said it was clear Door instigated the attack, struck the first blow and was “the most aggressive of the three young men in the group”.

He noted that Door pleaded guilty three years after the incident and only once it was apparent he would be found guilty due to strong blood and DNA evidence.

The court heard Door was born in South Sudan and “witnessed many atrocities as a child”.

Judge Chivell sentenced him to two years and 10 months in jail, with a non-parole period of 18 months.

Another man was charged with aggravated causing harm over the incident but was acquitted in December last year. It is unclear whether a third man was charged over the attack.

Police Association president Mark Carroll with Senior Constables Tash Smith and Paul Jelfs, who have both been the victims of violence in unrelated incidents. Picture: Brenton Edwards/AAP

Police Association of SA president Mark Carroll described the officer’s attackers as “cowards” and said the victim “is fortunate to be alive”.

“The maximum penalty for this offence is 13 years’ imprisonment,” Mr Carroll said.

“The only good thing about this sentence is that the offender will do time behind bars.”

Mr Carroll said the prevalence of assaults on police — ­771 attacks in the 12 months to April 30 this year — “indicates an erosion in respect for the important role they play in the community”.

“We can no longer allow this respect to be eroded — it must be restored,” he said.

“Stronger laws and harsher penalties for assaults against police, including limiting the use of court-imposed suspended sentences, will send a powerful message to people who think assaulting a police officer is okay.”