Joshua Charles Scott on trial for allegedly breaking officer’s hand during Central Coast arrest

A man has pleaded not guilty to breaking a female officer’s hand and hindering police on the grounds his arrest was unlawful, a court has heard.

A man is facing trial in Gosford District Court for allegedly breaking a female police officer’s hand and assaulting another officer during a violent arrest last year.

Joshua Charles Scott, 43, of Gosford, has pleaded not guilty to assaulting a police officer causing actual bodily harm and causing grievous bodily harm to another officer while being reckless.

He has also pleaded not guilty to a number of related offences including wilfully obstructing an officer in execution of their duty, resisting arrest and being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence.

Stills from the body worn camera footage shown in court. Mr Scott came to the door calmly. Picture: supplied

The court heard two officers attended a unit at 80 John Whiteway Drive on February 18 last year to arrest a woman for allegedly using a carriage service to harass or intimidate a man she had been dating for about five weeks after he ended the relationship.

The woman was Mr Scott’s ex-partner and the pair were still residing in the same seventh floor apartment.

The court heard another officer had taken a video statement from the man who ended the relationship and many voicemails she had left him, some of which were her pleading for him to take her back and others which were threatening.

Mr Scott is on trial at Gosford District Court. (AAP Image/Sue Graham)

That officer tried to arrest the woman the next day but she could not access the secure building to get to Mr Scott’s apartment and the following day, after getting access from a real estate agent, no one was not home.

Two days later two other officers, Probationary Constable Dean Kozaruk and Leading Senior Constable Hayley Marks, were tasked with going to Mr Scott’s unit and arresting his ex-partner.

But when they arrived Mr Scott said they could not come in and that he would get her before police pushed their way into the unit and things “escalated quickly”, the court heard.

Stills from the body worn camera footage shown in court of Joshua Charles Scott's arrest. Picture: supplied

Giving evidence, the two officers said they went to arrest her but had not formed the view they would proceed to charging her without hearing her side of the story first.

Mr Scott’s barrister Talitha Hennessy, of Sir Owen Dixon Chambers, said this meant her arrest was unlawful under the Law Enforcement Powers and Responsibilities Act, commonly referred to by its acronym LEPRA.

She said the court must exclude all evidence which flowed after this unlawful arrest, which would also make Mr Scott’s arrest unlawful.

Stills from the body worn camera footage shown in court. An officer stands on the handcuffs in an attempt to prevent Mr Scott from moving. Picture: supplied

Judge Tanya Bright said if she accepted the woman’s arrest was unlawful it did not necessarily mean Mr Scott’s actions could not invoke the officer’s powers under LEPRA to arrest him.

Judge Bright also said the evidence the two officers gave in court could also be admissible.

An 18-minute video was played in court showing the officers arriving at the unit, Mr Scott’s refusal to let them in and the police pushing their way inside without a warrant.

Stills from the body worn camera footage shown in court of Joshua Charles Scott's arrest. Picture: supplied

It also shows Mr Scott swearing at the police, yelling and pushing and shoving before he goes into a bathroom and the officers drag the woman outside the unit.

Mr Scott comes out of the unit again and is hit with OC spray before both officers rush in to make his arrest, with the video showing him struggling.

Sen Con Marks told the court she was trying to secure Mr Scott’s legs while he was kicking out and felt “immediate pain” in her hand, which later turned out to be broken.

The judge-alone trial continues.