Charges thrown out after cops ‘apprehend’ Aboriginal man, ‘intoxicated’ in own backyard

An Aboriginal man ‘apprehended’ by police for being intoxicated in his own backyard has been acquitted of assaulting officers at the watch house.

AN Aboriginal man “apprehended” by NT Police for being intoxicated in his own backyard has been acquitted of assaulting officers at the watch house after a court ruled he was unlawfully detained.

The man, who was given the pseudonym JP by the court, was found guilty in the Alice Springs Local Court last year of spitting on two cops, damaging police property and disorderly conduct in a police station.

But following an appeal to the Supreme Court, those convictions were quashed after Justice Judith Kelly ruled he never should have been detained in the first place.

The court heard police were called to a home following reports of a “domestic disturbance” in June 2020 and when they arrived, JP’s mother told them “My son is getting mad — just want him locked up”.

JP went inside the house and his bedroom was unlocked for police where they “detected a strong smell of cannabis coming from the room” before locating JP out in the yard.

The officers believed he was “intoxicated and aggressive” and led him to their car at the front of the house where he “became louder and somewhat aggressive”.

One of the officers, identified as “Officer Frost”, gave evidence that JP was “likely to flee and so he made the decision to ‘apprehend’ (him) and take him into protective custody”.

But Justice Kelly ruled he was already in police custody, starting from the time he was escorted from the property.

Officer Frost told the court he “needed to remove (JP) from the premises and that, due to his increasingly belligerent behaviour, he thought it would be safest to take him to the watch house”.

While in the paddy wagon, JP removed his clothes and when he got to his cell, tried to flush clothes given to him down the toilet, blocking it, and “started tearing up the mattress”, before “bang(ing) his head against the cell door”.

Officers became concerned JP would hurt himself and “placed him in an emergency restraint chair”, during which time he spat on two of them.

He was found guilty of each of the offences but appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, where Justice Kelly ruled the apprehension was unlawful as police can only take intoxicated people into protective custody if they are “in a public place or trespassing on private property”.

But Justice Kelly found there was “no suggestion” Officer Frost had deliberately exceeded his police powers and “simply did not know” about the relevant provision in the legislation.

“From this it can be inferred that he did not turn his mind to the question of whether (JP) was trespassing at the time he took him into custody and so, cannot be said to have formed an actual subjective belief that he was trespassing,” she said.

“Officer Frost (instead) had an actual subjective belief at the time that the appellant was at home – “at his house” – which is not compatible with a subjective belief that he was trespassing.

“If not for the unlawful apprehension of the appellant, the offences would not have been committed.”