Stephen Paul Walker, 60, accused of kicking cop during Alice Springs pub arrest granted bail

An Alice Springs mechanic – accused of kicking a police officer in the knee while allegedly breaching his bail – has been bailed again, after he pleaded guilty to drink driving. Find out more.

Alice Springs Local Court. Picture: Gera Kazakov

An Alice Springs mechanic has shown up to court battered and bruised because he was “forcefully” tackled to the ground, his lawyer says, but police have accused him of kicking one of their own – while breaching his bail.

Stephen Paul Walker, 60, fronted the Alice Springs Local Court on Tuesday, January 7, after he spent four days in the watch-house after he was arrested on January 4.

Walker appeared in the dock with a bandage around his arm and wearing an ARB 4x4 Accessories uniform – his place of work, his defence lawyer Ben Durkin told the court.

Walker was before the courts for a litany of charges across four files, ranging from drink driving and driving an uninsured motor vehicle, to breaching bail and assaulting a police officer.

He pleaded guilty and was convicted by Judge Anthony Hopkins for driving with medium range blood alcohol content, driving with a high range blood alcohol content, driving a vehicle without an alcohol interlock, and driving an unregistered and uninsured motor vehicle spread across two files.

However, separate to the driving charges, on two other files were charges of breaching his bail, assaulting police, resisting arrest, using a carriage service to harass, and breaching a domestic violence order.

Walker entered no plea in relation to the charges on those two files, the court heard.

Uncles Tavern, Alice Springs.

Mr Durkin sought bail for his client on the two files, which the court heard also occurred on January 4 – when police allegedly spotted Walker in Uncles tavern in Alice Springs enjoying a beer, despite having been given bail earlier that day with a condition of “not to drink”.

“He was observed by four police officers consuming an alcoholic beverage which was beer. The defendant was approached and gave police a false name. However, the defendant is known to other police officers who attended,” police prosecutor Justin Matahan said.

Police conducted a breath test and the court heard Walker blew 0.02, with police then attempting to arrest him.

A police breath test. Picture: File

“(Walker) became aggressive, actively resisting police, attempting to break free from officers while he was being placed against us. (Walker) then kicked his left leg down, and made direct contact with an officers right kneecap, causing pain,” Mr Matahan said.

But Mr Durkin outlined a different version of events, where Walker was “tackled to the ground in a very, very forceful manner”.

“Walker instructs that after that stage where he’s been tackled very forcefully to the ground, he’s essentially flailed out and kicked his legs, and in doing so he may have kicked the police officer,” he said.

In court, Walker pleaded guilty to driving with a blood-alcohol content of 0.117 on Hartley St in Alice Springs on December 22.

Only days after, on January 4, police found him driving in breach of an alcohol interlock installed on his Jeep Patriot on the same road, an offence he also pleaded guilty to.

Mr Durkin said the reason for his client’s drinking was because of an “extraordinarily difficult past few months”.

“In a very short period of time his mother, his father and his brother had all passed away … that has really resulted in him drinking to excess on a number of occasions” he said.

For his driving charges, Walker was fined $3200 and disqualified from driving for 12 months.

Walker was granted bail on his other two files, which Judge Hopkins adjourned to March 11.

Originally published as Stephen Paul Walker, 60, accused of kicking cop during Alice Springs pub arrest granted bail