Tamba Gborie found not guilty of assaulting three cops in cab-rank brawl

A Thor film extra who was accused of assaulting three police officers as he tried to calm a friend down during a bloody cab-rank brawl says he was “very happy” with a Brisbane jury’s verdict.

A Brisbane actor who was accused of assaulting three police officers during a bloody cab-rank brawl in Fortitude Valley has been acquitted on all charges.

Tamba Gborie, 25, beamed and hugged his barrister after a jury found him not guilty of assaulting the officers while they attempted to arrest him in the nightclub precinct on June 9, 2019.

During the four-day trial in the Brisbane District Court, confronting CCTV and body camera footage was played to the court which showed the moment the night descended into violence on Wickham Street.

Tamba Gborie on the set of Thor with Tom Hiddleston.

Mr Gborie, an actor who was an extra in Thor: Ragnarok, which was filmed in Brisbane in 2016, was trying to calm down his friend who had been given a “move on direction” from police minutes earlier when police alleged Mr Gborie obstructed them.

Footage shown to the court showed that Mr Gborie was then grabbed around the neck and pinned on the taxi bonnet by two officers who tried to handcuff him as a woman screamed “he didn’t do anything”.

Crown prosecutor John Cahill told the court that before the officers could restrain him, police alleged Mr Gborie punched Constable Nicholas Guy and senior sergeant Dean Magarry in the face before tackling the senior officer to the ground and biting his finger.

Mr Gborie was tasered before he allegedly lunged at senior constable Dustin Osborne, biting him on the chest and choking him while his “fingernails ripped into his throat”.

Tamba Gborie was found not guilty on all five counts of assault. Picture: News Corp/Attila Csaszar

Barrister Eoin Mac Giolla Ri convinced the jury that they could not find Mr Gborie guilty after arguing that police had no powers to arrest his client because there was no “reasonable suspicion” that an offence had been committed.

Mr Mac Giolla Ri also claimed police had used unnecessary force and that one of the officers had performed a lateral vascular neck restraint (LVNR) on Mr Gborie – a chokehold that is banned except under special circumstances.

He suggested that police patrolling Fortitude Valley had a culture of “push first ask questions later”.

During the trial the officers denied that and LVNR manoeuvre had been performed and rejected claims that force used was excessive.

Mr Gborie was formally discharged on all five counts of assault.

Outside court the Nundah actor said he was “very happy” to see justice served.