Military police have hand in civilian conviction

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 608, 17 October 1995, Page 8

Military police have hand in civilian conviction

The following cases were heard by Judge Richard Watson in the Ohakune District Court last Thursday. Police-sergeant Bob Evans of Ohakune appeared for the prosecution. "Real friends" Lee Anne Jones, 30, of Waiouru, appeared for a defended hearing on a charge of driving with excess breath alcohol (900:1) on Ruapehu Road, Waiouru, on 23 June. The first prosecution witness was military policeman Lance-corporal David Pawson who testified that as he was driving north on SH 1 at 2.30am, a motor vehicle which had been parked beside the road suddenly pulled out in front of him causing him to brake. The vehicle tumed right towards Ruapehu Road but had difficulty negotiating the traffic island. He followed the vehicle and signalled the driver to stop because he thought the car was being driven dangerously. The driver told him that she had come from the Oasis Hotel. The witness then called the (civilian) police as, under his warrant, he had no power of detention or arrest over a civilian entering, leaving or within the Defence Department camp area. He explained that the area on both sides of SH1 were Defence Department property while SH1 itself was a public road through this area. Defence counsel Paul Brown questioned Lancecorporal Pawson' s authority in stopping and detaining his client in the belief that she was driving dangerously and then summoning the civilian police. A 4-way legal question-and-answer session then took place between the judge, Mr Brown, police-prosecutor Bob Evans and Lance-corporal Pawson with Mr Brown saying it was important to establish just what rights the public had in relation to the Army's Warrant under which their military police operated. Mr Brown' s concern was that his client had not been read her Bill of Rights when stopped initially and had only been informed of her rights when charged with driving under the influence. He said his client had believed that having been stopped she had been detained and was not free to leave. The precise wording of the Army Warrant was questioned and, after Judge Watson took a 30minute adjournment to consider the evidence and arguments presented by defence and prosecution counsel, he returned to Court to give his decision. He said that had Lance-corporal Pawson "detained" Ms Jones he would have been under an obligation to deliver her immediately to the civil police but he had merely "stopped" her and she was free to go at any time. From Lance-corporal Pawson' s evidence he had asked Ms Jones "where have you been?" to which

she replied: "The Oasis Hotel." He then asked her "Have you consumed alcohol?" to which she replied "yes". He then said: "would you mind waiting? " to which she replied: "No . . . how long are we going to be?" Judge Watson said that Ms Jones had not been 'detained' at that stage and was free to leave even though she might not have realised she could do so. It was only when Constable Michael Martin of the Waiouru police arrived and noted that Ms Jones was inebriated that she was read her Bill of Rights, arrested ('detained') and breath-tested. In conviciing and fining the defendant $800 and imposing a mandatory 6-month disqualification period. Judge Watson said he had a great deal of sympathy for her predicament. She had offered to drive because the owner of the car said he was too drunk but, in doing so, she had made herself liable for an offence which should properly have been borne by the owner of the car. When Judge Watson asked Ms Jones if she had been offered any assistance by the vehicle' s owner to meet any fine, she replied that she had not. "You soon find out who your real friends are," he said. "No brain, no pain" Dean Richards, 21, bushman of Raetihi, appeared for sentence after last month pleading guilty • to three charges: behaving in a disorderiy manner likely to cause violence; causing intentional damage at the Ruapehu Hotel in Raetihi and; assaulting a police-constable. All the charges arose out of an incident on 3 June. Defence counsel, Eric Forster, in a plea of mitigation said that his client should not be held entirely responsible for his behaviour and subsequent damage that night as the hotel had continued to supply the defendant with liquor and therefore must share some of the responsibility and cost of repairs to the doors and window. Judge Watson disagreed saying that hotel staff had acted properly as soon as they became aware that Richards was intoxicated and asked him to leave. "There was no way they (hotel staff) could have known how much Richards had already drunk or what degree of intoxication he could have been in before he arrived at the hotel and, once there, drinks could have been bought for him by other persons," said Judge Watson. Referring to the evidence that Richards had head-butted his way back into the hotel through locked doors, Judge Watson commented: "Talk about no brain, no pain.. I really don't know how he managed to do that". Judge Watson said that one particular aspect of the three charges that concerned him most was the

assault on the police constable who was driving the defendant down to Wanganui after ambulance officers declined to do so as they were unable to control Richards who had sustained a badly cut forehead (the result of the head-butting). "My greatest worry was that the bloodied bandages which you tried several times to throw at the police officer and finally succeeded in wrapping round his face, might have been contaminated by some disease". "Tests have since established that no contamination has occurred but that offence alone would have warranted a custodial sentence had it not been for some positive features of your character which have been outlined in the letters and testimonials handed to me by your counsel as well as the report provided by the probation officer." Richards, who had been described as a young man who seldom drank but when he did so became a monster, was convicted and sentenced on all matters to 200 hours of community service (the maximum period available) and ordered to pay reparation of $821 at the rate of $20 per week. A question of identification Barney George Henare, 29, unemployed of Raetihi, appeared for a defended hearing on a charge of driving while disqualified on 1 8 July in Ohakune. He denied the charge saying it was his look-alike brother who was driving his white Nissan vehicle in Clyde Street that night. The first prosecution witness was Police-con-stable Stuart Ngatai who said that he was off duty that evening and was in the company of Policeconstable David Nimmo as they made their way across Clyde Street to the Ohakune Hotel. Constable Ngatai said that he noted David Nimmo was paying particular attention to a white Nissan as it turned left out of the Raetihi road and into Clyde Street. He had not seen who was driving the car but said it was travelling at "about 20-25 km/h" as it went through the intersection. Constable Nimmo took the stand and said he had seen the Nissan turn out of the Raetihi road and into Clyde Street just as he and constable Ngatai reached the footpath outside the hotel' s Summit Bar. As the car drove past no more than about two metres from him he had leaned down to see who the driver was as he knew who the owner was and knew that person to be a disqualified driver. He had identified the driver as Barney George Henare and, when on duty the next day, had issued a summons for driving while disqualified. Cross examined by defence counsel, Mr Eric

Forster, constable Nimmo said that he had the vehicle under observation for a total of about 15 seconds and that he had observed the driver for about three seconds while leaning down to peer into the passenger side window. He saw a female by the name of Mavis sitting in the front passenger seat beside the driver who he positively identified as the defendant who was well known to him (over a period of three years) and with whom he had occasion to speak as late as May and June this year (one to two months before this sighting). In response to defence-Counsel he said that it had not been raining ("otherwise I would have run across the road instead of walking across") and that he had no difficulty seeing the interior of the car with the hotel lights behind him. Defence counsel then asked Dwayne Henare, defendant' s brother, to take the witness stand. Dwayne Henare said that he had taken his sister-in-law, Mavis, down to Wanganui that moming to do some shopping and had retumed to Ohakune after dark and in the rain. He had been driving the Nissan. Cross examined by Police-sergeant Bob Evans the witness said that he couldn't remember exactly what time he had returned to Ohakune and they (he and Mavis) had not done any shopping while in Wanganui ... "just looking". In his summing up Judge Watson said the case was one of credibility and a question of identification. He noted that the defendant elected not to take the witness stand to give evidence. He said the Court was aware of the need for caution in matters of identification where that might be disputed in case the witness or witnesses were mistaken but in this case he was prepared to accept the evidence of the police-constable. 'The police-constable knew the defendant well and he knew the defendant' s vehicle. Both were seen in an area that was clearly lit and I have no doubt that he was able to positively identify the driver". He said the evidence of Dwayne Henare was probably mistaken if not untruthful. Because of the need for the Court to be cautious in matters of identification and because there were no aggravating circumstances associated with the driving, Judge Watson told the defendant that no further period of disqualification would be imposed but he sentenced the defendant to 30 hours community seryice. More court reports Page 14