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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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Police Senior Sergeant Anthony Solomona
Senior Sergeant Anthony
Solomona appeared in Manukau District Court today after earlier being found
guilty of assaulting the youth in the forecourt of a Manurewa service station
in February last year. Internal police
disciplinary charges were also laid against him but held until the result of
the criminal charges was known. Detective Inspector
Keith Brady, of police professional standards, said he would now recommend to
police commissioner Rob Robinson that a police tribunal hear the charges. He said Solomona was
convicted and discharged and ordered to pay his victim for the emotional harm
his treatment of him caused. Solomona would remain
on suspension until the disciplinary process had been completed, Mr Brady
said. "The process are
that charges are laid against an officer. They then go before a tribunal to
determine whether or not they are proved," Mr Brady said. The incident led
district court judge Bruce Davidson to criticise the heavy-handed techniques
of Solomona and condemn a wider police culture as "sick". The court had heard the
culture included joke photographs of machete-wielding men making death
threats, and the photographing of suspects made to wear demeaning signs. He ruled Solomona had
gone overboard in arresting Angelo Turner for repeatedly using "a common
swear word" after Solomona drove into his car. In his defence Solomona
said he arrested Mr Turner to cool an increasingly volatile situation - a
defence rejected by the judge. He acquitted Solomona
on three further assault charges and one charge of assault with a weapon. However, he strongly
condemned "some disturbing police practices" raised during the
hearing, including the photographing of a boy, 15, wearing a sign reading:
"I am the property of Senior Sergeant Solomona" and the coercing of
apology letters from suspects. A photograph produced
at the hearing showed a man in a police uniform and balaclava, swinging a machete
and axe and wearing a sign saying "RIP to Section 4". |
