Corey Ahling: Dubbo cop fighting assault charge in court

A senior police officer has told a court a colleague kicked a man in the nose during an arrest, however the cop accused of the assault has denied any wrongdoing.

Detective Senior Constable Regan Doring leaves court after giving evidence in the case of Senior Constable Corey Ahling, who has been charged with assaulting a man. Picture: Ryan Young

A Detective has told a court he witnessed one of his colleagues kick a man’s face and heard what “sounded similar to wood breaking” during an arrest at a home in central NSW.

Dubbo-based Senior Constable Corey Ahling is accused of an assault while on duty, of a man police believed was involved in a spate of break and enters in the Wellington region.

Senior Constable Corey Ahling has been accused of assaulting a man while he was on-duty. Picture: Facebook

Senior Constable Ahling has pleaded not guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and is fighting the charge in court.

During a hearing at Orange Local Court on Wednesday Detective Senior Constable Regan Doring said he “felt sick” after witnessing the alleged assault which took place inside a Wellington home in December 2018.

“At that stage I hated going to work,” Detective Doring said.

“I’ve seen Corey walk to the head and just kick him.”

The court heard Detective Doring and Senior Constable Jason Elridge were arresting the man, who had dropped a knife he was armed with, when Senior Constable Ahling allegedly assaulted the man and left him with a bleeding nose.

Orange Local Court magistrate David Day is presiding over the hearing. Picture: Dylan Robinson

During cross examination Detective Doring told defence barrister Ray Hood that the man’s face did not hit the floor during the arrest.

“It definitely did not happen,” he said.

When pressed about why he said “I didn’t see that” to another Detective when the pair were discussing Senior Constable Ahling’s alleged conduct, Detective Doring told the court he was seeking clarification that the other Detective witnessed the same conduct as him.

Detective Doring told the court he took a picture of the man outside in handcuffs and posted it to a group of Dubbo police officers on the encrypted messaging service WhatsApp.

The court heard the picture was taken to give officers a visual of the man who was placed under arrest, because it might have assisted in determining if he was at the scene of break and enters.

Detective Senior Constable Matthew Roberts leaves court. Picture: Ryan Young

Detective Senior Constable Matthew Roberts was at the Wellington home when the alleged assault took place and he told the court he took a screenshot of the WhatsApp thread the picture was posted in.

“I was not comfortable with the conversation and the picture that was displayed,” he said.

The court heard the picture of the wanted man was accompanied by the words ‘MF’ which stood for “mother f*****”.

After the man was arrested, Senior Constable Jason Elridge told the court that a senior officer sent him a message which said “we will have to charge [the man] with resist at least to cover the [injury]”.

Senior Constable Elridge said he told his superior he would lay the charge, but that was never done.

“I guess you could see it as a lie,” Senior Constable Elridge told the court.

The hearing continues.