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Allegations
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A young woman who
sought help from the police but found herself on the receiving end of some
rough justice is still waiting for someone to be punished for the brutal
attack. Rebecca Gerrard claims
police beat her up and walked away, leaving her bloodied and broken. Two
years on, the police have apologised and paid her out. Gerrard spoke to 20/20
about what she says happened two years ago, saying she was violently beaten
by at least one of four police officers. "When he knocked
me, it knocked me so hard that I dropped to my knees I thought 'oh God's
checking me today' because I thought oh no he's going to kill me, he's going
to kill me," Gerrard said. The Christchurch woman
was drunk at the time and can't remember everything, but her lawyer Rupert
Glover claims she was assaulted by police and he is concerned that no one has
been held to account. "The person hasn't
been punished yet and ought to be, because this was a violent, unprovoked,
vicious assault which led to very serious injuries on a very slight and
inoffensive young girl," Glover said. The police have
formally accepted something happened to Gerrard and that the police may have
had a part in it. "We've
acknowledged that she could have been injured during that situation,"
said Canterbury District Commander Sandra Manderson. Gerrard has received an
apology and a $20,000 payout. On the night in
question, Gerrard's boyfriend had called 111 because there was trouble
brewing in the street. Different witnesses say a ute either hit or almost hit
Gerrard. When the police arrived, she and her cousin Aaron were still outside
and it is what she says happened next that is disputed by police. Gerrard says she saw
police dragging Aaron across the footpath and thought they were going to
arrest him. She says the police were kicking Aaron and she yelled at them -
using strong language - to leave him alone. Her ex-boyfriend Chris
Puelo says he watched the whole thing from nearby and was
"terrified". Gerrard and Puelo say
the police suddenly ran at her. "There were two
behind me and one of them behind me was punching me in the back of my neck as
well as the big tall one - he was punching me and then he got the baton
out," Gerrard told 20/20. "...the tall one especially. He was
clobbering me, he started with his fist, then he started with his baton and I
remember it coming again and I thought ohh you're gonna die." Gerrard had a broken
and dislocated arm. She had been smashed in the eye by a hard object, which
was either a police torch or a baton and her arm, according to a medical
expert, was clearly broken by a blow from a steel baton. A pathologist's
report commissioned by the police says the most likely cause was a hard blow
with a police baton. She says she passed out
at some stage but at no time did the police say to her she was under arrest. Puelo says he watched
from inside and called 111, saying he needed help because his girlfriend was
being beaten up. Rupert Glover has seen
the 111 transcript in which Puelo was talking to the call taker at the police
station. Glover says there was screaming and the call taker said "what's
that screaming?" and Puelo said "they're holding her, they're
beating her up". Gerrard now has a steel
plate in her arm, she had months off work and eventually had to leave her
job. Glover says when he saw her she was utterly traumatised. The barrister took on
her case against the police at no cost to her - she turned to him when a
police internal investigation came to nothing. Glover says each
officer denied doing it and most of them denied that there was any physical
violence at all. Police looked into the
case and charged one of the four officers present that night with assault.
But part-way through the court process, the charge was dropped. The officer
has permanent name suppression. Sandra Manderson says
the man went to court and they acknowledge that possibly an assault took
place but there was insufficient evidence. "Unfortunately we
cannot identify exactly when she was injured," says Manderson. The police say
conflicting witness reports made their job very difficult. They declared the
case closed and the investigating officer visited Gerrard with a king sized
box of chocolates to tell her. But Gerrard and her
lawyer took a civil case and last week the police accepted enough of the
blame for her injuries to offer her an apology, $3,000 costs and $20,000 in
compensation. Gerrard was happy with
the outcome - for her it was vindication of a two year struggle just to be
believed. She says it was the worst hiding she had ever had and it was from
people who "we are supposed to feel safe around". But she says justice
has only been half-served because despite the money and the apology the four
officers who were there have received no disciplinary action. To this day none of
them accepts they assaulted Gerrard that night and their boss says she
believes them. Manderson says she doesn't believe the other three police
officers are guilty of an offence and the fourth officer was acquitted. Challenged by 20/20 to
explain how no officer was found guilty of an offence which police have
accepted happened, Manderson said they carried out a thorough investigation. She says it is a matter
of evidence and she's still not convinced the police were at fault. She also
says she is not convinced that what Gerrard says is true and she doubts her
credibility. 20/20 has identified
the four officers involved in the incident - one has name suppression and the
others are constables Nigel Armstrong, Nigel Craythorne and Mark Buckley. All
four officers are still on the force in Christchurch. Gerrard says her two
year fight for recognition leaves a bitter taste in the mouth and she doesn't
accept those officers are innocent. "I mean these are
police, they're going to help and then you think hold on a minute and look
what they have done and they are still getting away with everything." The terms of her
settlement are clear. By accepting the payment she can make no further claims
against the police for her assault. She has to let her battle go. Her lawyer says the
money doesn't even come close to making up for what Gerrard has suffered and
he doesn't think justice has been served. He says if a citizen assaulted
another citizen in that way a sentence of imprisonment would have been
inevitable. Gerrard says she wants
to know why. "Did it make them
feel like bigger men? I don't even think they even have remorse about it so
they'll be laughing still in my face. Shame - look at me." |
