Senior Constables Travis Woolnough and Ross Fowler fight assault charges
A man who was trying to move out of his house after breaking up with his girlfriend said police blasted him with pepper spray and kicked him to the chest so hard he flew backwards.
Police & Courts
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A father has told of how he was blasted in the face with pepper spray, repeatedly whacked with a baton and torch and became airborne when he was kicked to the chest in a shocking case of alleged police brutality.
Senior Constables Travis Woolnough and Ross Fowler are on trial in the County Court charged with intentionally and recklessly causing injury and assault over an alleged attack on Brian Jackson in Frankston in February 2016.
As the trial began on Thursday, Mr Jackson testified he was never aggressive or violent towards the officers on the night.
He also denied being drunk or drug-affected.
“I didn’t understand what was going on,” Mr Jackson said.
“I had a face full of pepper spray and could hardly see.
“I felt a big kick to my chest and went flying through the air.
“They were pushing me backwards and forwards between them and hitting me.
“I was standing there with my arms out saying ‘What are you doing?’”
The police officers had attended the Frankston home following reports of a domestic dispute.
When they arrived, they found Mr Jackson in the driveway, a can of Jim Beam in his hand, going between the garage and his ute with his belongings.
Mr Jackson told the court he had made the decision to leave his partner after coming home to find her on the couch reading a book while his daughter was screaming in the hallway.
“I was stunned how she was oblivious to my daughter. I wasn’t very impressed with the way she was handling the situation at all,” he said.
He said he was “civil” in the discussions, but that she “fired up pretty quickly” when he said he was leaving.
“She did say she was calling the police and I said ‘Go for it’,” he said.
The court heard Sen-Constable Woolnough approached Mr Jackson in the driveway, and without exchanging any words, shoved him, causing his drink to spill all over him.
“They told me I couldn’t go back into the house,” Mr Jackson said.
“All I’m trying to do is get my stuff and get my daughter and leave and they wouldn’t help.”
As Mr Jackson tried to leave the property, he said someone jumped on his back, and when he turned around he had the pepper spray squirted in his face.
He said he then walked across the road to his mother’s house on the same street to use a tap to wash off the spray “burning” his face, when the officers followed him and attacked him in her front yard.
The alleged attack was captured on CCTV, which was played to the jury.
It showed the moment Sen-Constable Woolnough kicked him, sending him flying backwards onto the concrete footpath.
It then shows Sen-Constable Fowler hit Mr Jackson twice with his torch while he was on the ground and trying to get up.
The pair then push him between each other, before slamming him “hard” against a fence, Mr Jackson said.
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After being handcuffed, he said the officers agreed to take him to a tap to wash his face.
As he was led away, his hands cuffed in front of him, Sen-Constable Fowler struck Mr Jackson again to the back with his torch.
Prosecutor Matt Fisher told the jury there had been “inconsistencies” in the version of events given in statements by the two police officers.
But that the CCTV shows “the force used by the accused men was not to affect arrest of the complainant”.
“They were not acting lawfully in the execution of their duties as members of Victoria Police,” Mr Fisher said.
“They were acting together and assisting and encouraging each other.”
The jury was also shown photos of Mr Jackson’s injuries including large bruises to his inner thigh and back. On top of the scratches and bruises, he also suffered a fractured rib.
Geoffrey Steward, for Sen-Constable Fowler, said his client “has committed no offence”.
“Mr Fowler was just doing his duty and trying to deal with the “unhinged and unpredictable phenomenon that was Brian Jackson on that night”, Mr Steward said.
Malcolm Thomas, for Sen-Constable Woolnough, took the jury step-by-step through the non-audio CCTV, pausing it and asking them to question what was being said.
“Are they telling him to get on the ground?” Mr Thomas said.
“Why is it that Mr Jackson is getting hit with a baton and doesn’t flinch? Is it because he is high on ice?”
“Was Jackson sober or blind drunk? Was Jackson calm or was he agitated? Was he reasonable and rational or off his head with anger?” Mr Thomas said.
The trial, before Judge Trevor Wraight, continues.