Trial begins for perjury-accused police officer over claims he lied about speed radar

• Constable James Philip Cox is on trial for perjury, with the officer accused of lying under oath over his certification to use a speed radar device.
• Crown Prosecutor Robin McCoubrey told a jury in the Auckland District Court today Cox “intended to mislead” when he gave evidence during a trial two years ago.
• Cox’s lawyer Todd Simmonds, KC, said the officer didn’t realise he wasn’t formally qualified in using the speed radar device, which police had earlier mistakenly certified him in.

A policeman accused of lying under oath that he was qualified to use a radar while road policing was mistakenly told by police he was certified to use the device, a court has heard.

But the police error didn’t absolve him of the crime he was later charged with — perjury — because the officer himself knew he wasn’t qualified, Crown Prosecutor Robin McCoubrey told jurors at the trial of Constable James Philip Cox today.

“He knew it wasn’t true … [and] he intended to mislead the two JPs [justices of the peace] in the court on an issue that was relevant.”

But Cox’s lawyer Todd Simmonds, KC, told jurors in his opening statement the officer didn’t realise he wasn’t properly certified to use the radar device when he gave evidence in court.

Cox has pleaded not guilty to perjury, punishable by a maximum penalty of seven years in prison, over evidence he gave during a trial in the North Shore District Court in January 2023.

Court documents show police allege the officer falsely claimed he was qualified and certified to conduct road policing activities using a radar device.

At his trial before Judge Paul Murray in the Auckland District Court, McCoubrey said in his opening statement to the jury the background to the case was “pretty trivial”, and related to a speeding offence.

Cox was certified to detect speeding motorists using a laser device after completing four hours’ training, but not using the more complex radar device, which required 16 hours’ training.

Constable James Cox is accused of perjury over evidence he gave in court about his qualification to use a speed radar device.

But when Cox’s laser certification was issued, it also said he was qualified to use radar, McCoubrey said.

“Police made a mistake. That’s probably how all this came about, but Constable Cox must’ve known that was a mistake. He must’ve known he hadn’t done the training … he intended to mislead the court when he said it.

“And while this isn’t the most serious allegation to come before the court, and no doubt we don’t view speeding tickets as particularly serious … nevertheless the law expects every witness to give truthful evidence — the system doesn’t work if we don’t do that.”

Later, McCoubrey showed jurors copies of Cox’s emails over subsequent months, including when his senior sergeant said they were having trouble finding the paperwork for his radar qualification.

Cox then asked another police officer to write a report that he was qualified in using the radar, which McCoubrey said was aimed at getting evidence he’d used a radar before meeting with the senior sergeant.

“It’s not about whether he was able to use the equipment … [it’s] was he qualified? No.”

But defence counsel Todd Simmonds told jurors in his opening statement the officer didn’t realise he wasn’t properly certified to use the radar device when he gave evidence in court.

He’d even given a voluntary statement to investigating police officers, Simmonds said.

“You’ll hear that statement. You will hear him say in his own words … ‘I 100% gave evidence that I believed to be true and correct’.”

Cox, who is on paid leave from police pending the outcome of the three-day trial, had only realised months later he was uncertified in radar, Simmonds said.

“The key issue is whether at the end of the evidence … all 12 of you can say to yourself we are sure that Constable Cox intentionally gave false evidence, [and] that when he gave evidence he knew at that stage he wasn’t certified to use the radar device."

Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.

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