Simon Mareangareu fights to be reinstated at Victoria Police

A policeman jailed for punching a teen in the face during an arrest in Ringwood is fighting to get back on the force.

Former Senior Constable Simon Mareangareu is fighting to get back on the force after his assault conviction was quashed.

A police officer jailed for punching a teen in the face during an arrest is fighting to get back on the force.

Simon Mareangareu was jailed for 12 months and fined $5000 after being convicted of common assault and attempting to pervert the course of justice over the 2014 incident in Ringwood on Christmas Day.

During a trial in the County Court in 2018, Mareangareu gave evidence that he had stopped two teenage boys “in hoodies with backpacks” after becoming suspicious they might be planning to rob a convenience store.

Mr Mareangareu told the jury he punched a 17-year-old boy in the face “as hard as I could” in line with his training, after the boy hit him on the forearm during

But his conviction was quashed a year later after the Court of Appeal ordered he be acquitted of the charges.

The court found the jury, prosecution and trial judge each made errors that meant Mr Mareangareu’s convictions could not stand.

Now the 57-year-old has now made a Supreme Court bid to get his police job back.

Victoria Police refused to reinstate the former Senior Constable, saying he had “failed to satisfy the criterion of being a person of good character and reputation”.

“There is clear evidence as to the conduct of (Mr Mareangareu) using powers entrusted to him that he took an oath to exercise more fully and used it unlawfully with a lack of integrity,” Victoria Police said.

“An acquittal says nothing as to the conduct of the person who is the subject of the charges. It is not a finding of innocence.”

Victoria Police said not acknowledging the earlier charges in determining Mr Mareangareu’s character would be like ignoring “the elephant in the room”.

But Mr Mareangareu said the decision was “unreasonable”, given his conviction had been set aside, and there was “no clear evidence” of any unlawful conduct by him.

Associate Justice Mary-Jane Ierodiaconou ruled Victoria Police was not allowed to consider the charges Mr Mareangareu had been acquitted of in determining if he was “of good character”.

“The Chief Commissioner must assess whether the police officer is of good character and reputation, however … the matters which form the subject of the charges upon which the police officer was convicted and which have been later set aside, must be disregarded in that assessment,” she said.

Associate Justice Ierodiaconou quashed Victoria Police’s decision not to reinstate Mr Mareangareu and ordered the matter be reassessed.