Daniel Bond, who has been found guilty of assaulting two police officers in Whangārei, with injuries sustained during a previous arrest in Auckland.
Daniel Bond, who has been found guilty of assaulting two police officers in Whangārei, with injuries sustained during a previous arrest in Auckland.
A man who has been found guilty of assaulting two police officers believes their evidence was contradictory and plans to appeal his conviction.
Daniel Bond, 29, was charged with wilful damage, fighting in public, resisting police and two charges each of assault on a police officer and refusing to give details.
Bond pleaded not guilty to the charges and the hearing was part heard over three separate dates in August and October 2023 and March 2024 at the Whangārei District Court before Judge Philip Rzepecky, who reserved his decision.
Today the judge found Bond guilty of two charges of assaulting police, resisting police and refusing to give identification to police.
However, he found Bond not guilty of wilful damage and fighting in public and said it was clear from the CCTV footage he did not initiate the fight and was defending himself.
“Your demeanour and actions were aggressive towards police. If you had left the area nothing would have happened,” Judge Rzepecky said to Bond as he stood in the dock.
“Police officers should be able to go to work without being assaulted.”
The court heard earlier in the trial how it was around 2am on June 18, 2022, when Bond was captured on CCTV allegedly fighting with another man on the corner of Bank and Water streets, near Fox Bar.
Sergeant Craig Curnow, Constable Hannah Goodmon and Constable Kelsey Jellick arrived on the scene and tried to move Bond and the crowd on.
Bond was caught on a security guard’s bodycam repeatedly asking for Curnow’s QID number and saying, “Give me your full Christian name”.
CCTV captured Curnow and Bond in inaudible discussions in the middle of the road before they moved kerbside. Jellick proceeded to walk towards Bond, telling him to go home after the latter began to yell, “Don’t touch me”.
At this point the camera view was blocked by bystanders and police say Bond bent Jellick’s fingers back which initiated his arrest for assault on an officer.
As Bond resisted arrest, he was forced to the ground by Curnow with what Bond’s lawyer Todd Luders argued was excessive force and could be heard saying “I do not consent”.
Curnow said Bond swung at one of his officers and once back at the station, kicked out at Constable Stephen Brown before refusing to give any identification details.
Multiple people gave evidence at the judge-alone trial including CitySafe staff, police officers and Bond.
Once at the police station, Daniel Bond kicked out at an officer and refused to give identification details. Photo / NZME
Judge Rzepecky said Bond had a history of this type of offending and hoped as he matured, these situations wouldn’t follow him around.
“I’m not sure what’s going on with you but you are living a transient lifestyle in a car and that may well be by choice, you seem to be an articulate person who’s got some potential.
“You were able to conduct your defence in a reasonable and dignified way despite the subject matter on the day.”
Bond told NZME he struggled to understand how the judge arrived at the guilty finding as he believed the evidence of the police was contradictory.
“I plan to appeal considering the police contradictions in verbal and written evidence in comparison to the video and audio I find it surprising that he’s come to the conclusion that beyond reasonable doubt I’m guilty, I struggle to comprehend how he got to that.
“We had three part-heard trials and going through all of the evidence given by CitySafe and the police officers, the CCTV and audio, it’s apparent I don’t assault constable Jellick so I find it strange he’s come to that conclusion,” Bond said.
Bond has a private prosecution scheduled for a jury trial later this year in the North Shore District Court against eight police officers for a previous arrest deemed unlawful.
Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.
