Cop’s actions in pushing over Aboriginal women ‘unnecessary’, against police training: Court

A Territory cop’s actions in pushing over two Aboriginal women during a call-out in Berrimah last year were ‘unnecessary’ and didn’t comply with police training, a court has heard.

Raymond Neilson-Scott outside the Darwin Local Court. Picture: Glenn Campbell

A TERRITORY cop’s actions in pushing over two Aboriginal women during a call-out in Berrimah last year were “unnecessary” and didn’t comply with police training, a court has heard.

Raymond Neilson-Scott pleaded not guilty in Darwin Local Court on Thursday to two counts of aggravated assault and one count of common assault following the incident on March 23.

Yesterday, the officer in charge of NT Police’s ethics and integrity unit, Senior Sergeant Andrew Barram, told the court he had reviewed Neilson-Scott’s body-worn camera footage from the night and he didn’t believe the women posed any threat.

“We use force to defend ourselves and I could not see any threatening behaviour,” he said.

“I don’t think the force used was necessary at all.”

The footage shows Neilson-Scott accusing one of the women of “spitting in my face” but under cross-examination, he agreed the drops of spit landed on his face “inadvertently” while maintaining the push was justified.

He denied he’d had a “brain snap” because the woman was “backchatting” him.

“It’s still spitting in my face, spit was landing on my face,” he said.

Neilson-Scott said he again felt spit “go on to my face” after the woman did not respond “favourably” to him yelling at her to shut up and he was concerned it was a “biohazard”.

“At that point I felt I needed to de-escalate the situation and create some distance between this person that wasn’t co-operating and me for my safety, so I pushed out in a two-handed manner,” he said.

The hearing continues on Monday.