|
|
Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
|
|
|
|
A police officer has
been found guilty of assaulting a student in the back of a police car. Constable Gregory Hall
has been on trial at the Auckland District Court with another officer Chris
Wharton on six assault charges. Both officers were
accused of assaulting student Hayden Seath during an arrest in 2000 when they
came upon him urinating in a carpark of a North Shore hotel. The Crown alleged there
was a scuffle in the carpark in which Seath went down to the ground and the
two officers punched Seath repeatedly. He was then punched by Hall in the
back of the patrol car on the way to the police station. Hall was found guilty
of the assault in the back of the car. It was after Seath was
taken into the interview room at the police station that the worst assault is
alleged to have taken place. The jury heard how
Wharton went in alone and punched Seath in the head around 20 times. It's
alleged he then left - and returned, wearing black gloves, to carry on the
assault. On two of the counts
relating to the incident Wharton was found not guilty, but the jury could not
agree on the third charge and a retrial was ordered |
