Ex-police officer Travis Pocock from Nambucca in Coffs Harbour court

The Coffs Coast man is pleading not guilty to eight charges – he’s alleged to have grabbed the body worn camera from another officer and stomped it in a puddle and sprayed a whole can of capsicum spray into another man’s face.

A former police officer allegedly emptied a bottle of capsicum spray into a man’s face after punching him in the back and took another officer’s body-worn camera and stomped on it in a puddle, a court has heard.

Travis Paul Pocock appeared before Coffs Harbour Local Court via audiovisual link from the cells of the police station on Tuesday, September 20.

He had been remanded in custody since his arrest on Monday morning.

The 38-year-old is charged with eight offences including common assault, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, tamper with evidence with intent to mislead judicial tribunal, destroy or damage property, and do act intend to pervert the course of justice.

The charges relate to a series of events which allegedly began in 2020 when Pocock was a serving officer in the Nambucca region.

Ex-cop Travis Pocock leaves Coffs Harbour Local Court after being released on bail on Tuesday, September 20. Picture: Janine Watson

He has since left the service, the court heard, and suffers from PTSD, depression and anxiety and sees a psychologist up to two times a month.

William Logan, lawyer for the Director of Public Prosecutions, argued Pocock should be remanded in custody and outlined some of the allegations from a “key witness and victim” who is a serving member of the NSW Police Force and, who he described as a “whistleblower”.

Mr Logan told the court that on one occasion during an arrest, when Pocock was still a member of the NSW Police Force, he allegedly punched a man in the back, causing him to fall into a barbed wire fence and Pocock then emptied a can of capsicum spray into his face.

Pocock is further alleged to have taken the body worn camera from a fellow officer and stomped it into a puddle.

Mr Logan argued Pocock should not be given bail due to the risk of contacting witnesses in the case and that Nambucca is a small town and he may run into others involved.

Pocock’s lawyer John Hennessey told the court his client was not aware of the allegations until January this year and that the “person referred to as the whistleblower had difficulties in the police force” and he became angry when Pocock pointed out his faults to other officers.

He told the court his client “has a defence to all sequences”.

In arguing for bail, Mr Hennessey also noted “he will be very vulnerable in jail”.

Mr Hennessey also told the court that Pocock lives in Nambucca Heads and the “alleged whistleblower” in Valla Beach – some 20 kilometres away, lessening the likelihood of chance encounters between the two.

Magistrate Michael Dakin granted Pocock bail and adjourned the case to October 11.