Left to right: Keith Parsons, Bruce Laing, John Mills, and Erle Busby. Photo / Daily Post
Left to right: Keith Parsons, Bruce Laing, John Mills, and Erle Busby. Photo / Daily Post
KEY POINTS:
Four Whakatane police officers have denied bashing a man in the town's police station on Labour Day last year.
Sergeant Keith Derek Parsons, 52, Sergeant Erle Busby, 46, Senior Constable Bruce Gordon Laing, 54, and Constable John Edmund Mills, 38, all entered not guilty pleas to charges ofassault with a weapon when they stood together in the dock at Tauranga District Court today.
They are accused of using a police baton and pepper spray on a 20-year-old Whakatane man who reportedly had been arrested on a charge of unlawfully taking a motor vehicle.
The alleged assault was said to have been recorded on video surveillance but Judge Peter Rollo ordered today that the DVD evidence remain suppressed.
Defence lawyer Rachael Adams said there were possible issues around authenticity.
The Crown agreed the evidence could be prejudicial if released through the media.
No trial date has been set.
Crown prosecutor Fletcher Pilditch said there might not be one available before February.
The four men were remanded for another call-over on October 16.
They have been on bail since their first court appearance in December and were suspended on full pay when criminal charges were laid.
Laing is a veteran of 27 years in the police force, Parsons 25 years, Busby 14, and Mills has served 7-1/2 years.
