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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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There is a fresh
allegation against Senior Sergeant Anthony Solomona, who has this week
appeared in court on six charges of assault in three separate incidents. A family has spoken to
Close Up alleging their boy, who was 15-years-old at the time, was mistreated
by Solomona, who was head of the Wiri police emergency response unit. Judge Bruce Davidson at
the Papakura District Court found him guilty on one charge of assault and
aquitted him on the other five. Solomona was found
guilty of assaulting a 17-year-old one year ago, after Solomona drove into
teenages car and the young man swore at him. Now another family has
come forward, wanting to tell their story. Phillip Arama has
tried, but says he can't forget the day he alleges he was hit and punched by
Solomona. Arama was at the
secondary schools Polynesian festival in Manukau on March 21 2003. "He goes, can you
come with me? So I went," says Arama. "As we were
walking he said, 'do you want me to bitch slap you'? I didn't know what he
was on about...I said no straight away." Arama says he was in
the toilet washing his hands when he alleges Solomona came and clipped him on
the back of the head. "He punched me on
the back of my head, and then again on the top of my shoulders. And I think,
once or twice in my stomach area." Arama's parents have
been trying, with their lawyer, to convince police to prosecute Solomona for
allegedly assaulting their son. They still don't understand why their boy was
allegedly singled out. "Phil happened to
be there, maybe it was the type of clothing he had...red hat, red shirt, red
pants, maybe he stood out, and maybe it's someone Sergeant Solomona wanted to
pick on," Phillip's father, Arama Arama told Close Up. The Arama's decided to
speak to Close Up after seeing another parent on the show talk about his
son's alleged assault. "Everything that
happened to that boy...It's just like...everything coming back to me...I
really feel sick, and I don't have any faith in the policemen at
all."says Phillip's mother, Nora Arama. "It's Phil's word
against Sergeant Solomona's...because there was no actual witness that was
there," says Phillip's father. For several months
after the incident, Arama says he rarely went outside. "I was so afraid
of to go out on the streets...just like the fear of being picked out again
and assaulted again," says Arama. In October, police
decided there was not enough evidence to take the allegations to court. The Arama's were told
the matter was with the police complaints authority, but they have heard
nothing since. |
