Aisling cop convicted for bashing teen

Alan Douglas (left) and Gareth Needham were refused discharges without conviction. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The police officer criticised for his role in the search for Aisling Symes has been convicted and sentenced for assaulting a teenager.

Gareth John Needham and fellow constable Alan Michael Douglas had applied for a discharge without conviction to keep their clean records.

But their applications were declined and they were convicted in the Auckland District Court yesterday of assaulting a drunk 18-year-old in a West Auckland park.

Needham was in the news last week when he gave evidence at the Aisling Symes inquest. He was one of the first police officers on the scene when the 2-year-old was reported missing in October 2009.

Needham found a manhole cover slightly ajar and checked the manhole but saw no sign of Aisling.

He did not tell his superiors about the manhole cover and Aisling was found 36m down the stormwater pipe seven days later.

Yesterday, Needham stood in the dock with Douglas as Judge Alison Sinclair sentenced them for striking Joshua Hart in the face.

Mr Hart had been drinking with up to 50 other young people at Mt Atkinson Park in Titirangi when police were called to disperse them.

He abused officers after Needham knocked his drink out of his hands. The constable struck him twice in bringing him to the ground and handcuffing him.

A police officer who saw the arrest said he was not sure if Needham used an open hand or a closed fist.

Judge Sinclair said the officer saw "one or two forceful blows to the back of the head". Another officer saw Needham hit Mr Hart with "three to four blows to the side of the face".

At the trial, Needham said the force used was part of a diversionary tactic to enable him to arrest Mr Hart.

But Judge Sinclair said the force was excessive. She told Douglas, who had hit the teenager in the face, that she accepted Mr Hart was being abusive but said police officers were expected to act with "composure".

She fined Douglas $600.

"It was a gratuitous use of violence on someone that was handcuffed at the time during the course of Mr Douglas carrying out his duties as a police officer," Judge Sinclair said.

Needham was not fined. Judge Sinclair told him a conviction alone was a "significant penalty in itself".

Both constables have attended a restorative justice hearing with Mr Hart and have apologised for their behaviour. They now face an internal police code of conduct inquiry.

Both officers declined to comment as they left court.