NSW police officer Ian Loach will fight assault charge in hearing

A NSW police officer will proceed to a court hearing to fight a charge of assaulting a woman while he was off duty.

A NSW police officer will proceed to a court hearing to fight a charge of assaulting a woman while he was off duty.

Senior constable Ian Loach, 40, was represented by his lawyer in Moss Vale court on Friday after pleading not guilty to a charge of common assault.

Police allege they were called to a house in Mount Annan on the morning of November 8 last year following reports a woman had been assaulted.

Police claim Mr Loach was off duty when he assaulted the woman the night before. He was arrested at 10am on November 8 and charged at Narellan Police station.

Police officer Ian Loach, left, has been charged with assaulting a woman.

On Monday the court heard there is some disagreement about the facts of the case, particularly regarding the statements made by the alleged victim.

The court heard Mr Loach’s lawyer, Farim Khan, proposed to subpoena email communication between the officer investigating the assault and the alleged victim to determine whether there was information that had not been provided to the defence.

Mr Khan said there was a legitimate forensic need for the defence to have the email correspondence between the two because the alleged victim had introduced new evidence ten months after the alleged incident.

The court heard the woman’s last statement to police in September included text messages between her and Mr Loach from before the alleged assault which allegedly prove ongoing difficulties that lead to the offending conduct.

Mr Khan told the court the woman had numerous opportunities to disclose the existence of the texts, which were in existence before November 2020, but only included them in her most recent statement.

He suggested emails between the alleged victim and the officer in charge of the investigation would show whether the officer had prompted the woman to include the text messages in her statement or if she had done so of her own accord. Mr Khan suggested the woman had waited so long to include the evidence because she was angling to get Mr Loach fired from the police force.

“The complainant may have produced those messages to impact his current employment,” he said.

“The correspondence would either prove or disprove that the complainant has other motives which would impact her credibility.”

The court heard Mr Loach remains employed as a senior constable with the NSW Police Force, although is currently on restricted duties due to the charges before the court.

However, the lawyer for the NSW Police Commissioner‘s office argued Mr Khan was conducting a “fishing expedition” to “find something that would attack the credibility of the victim”. He said there was no evidence the emails between the officer in charge and the alleged victim would assist the defence case.

Loach outside Camden court in a previous court appearance.

Magistrate Geraldine Beattie agreed.

“I have no evidence before me that suggests that correspondence will materially assist,” she said.

“It appears to be a speculation that they’ve contacted each other and discussed these messages.”

Magistrate Beattie refused to grant the subpoena of the email communications.

Mr Loach will proceed to a local court hearing to fight the charge of common assault. The first day of the hearing is scheduled for July 8 at Moss Vale Court.

Mr Loach is currently on bail, and there is an apprehended violence order in place to protect the alleged victim.