My Sentencing Trial
This is my third post about how I was bashed by Victoria Police, handcuffed, incarcerated overnight and then charged with assault, hindering police and resist arrest.
The police bashed and arrested me in front of 25 witnesses. On June 3, this year I came to the Magistrates Court with 5 of those witnesses willing to testify. The police had no one willing to testify for them - unless you count the police who were involved in the matter.
The various falsified police statements submitted in their Brief of Evidence had me:
1. Maneuvering my bike in between two police officers and their paddy wagon’s back doors to prevent them from putting someone in it.
2. Inciting a crowd of 25 onlookers to resist, hinder or attack the police who i am alleged to have said “are all racist, they breed them that way”.
3. Aggressively confronting police when asked for ID.
4. Resisting arrest
5. Simultaneously gripping two police officers by the throat and otherwise assaulting them by grabbing at their shoulders, tripping them and even ripping an epaulet from an officers shoulder!
Of all those alleged actions, only resisting arrest actually took place. The rest where made up by the police who illegally collaborated and unified their false statements. That is, they committed perjury to justify their illegal actions which included:
Repeatedly Striking me in the face with closed fists, striking me over the head with my own bicycle helmet, hospitalising an 18 year old woman by striking her face and bashing and arresting at least one other man.
There may have been more assaults but it is difficult to follow events when you are in the back of a paddy wagon with your hands cuffed behind your back.
All three of us where falsely charged; in my case with Assault, Hindering Police and Resist Arrest.
On the morning of my trial on June 3rd this year, a full 12 months after I was bashed, the police prosecutor offered to drop the assault charge in exchange for me pleading “guilty” to resist arrest and hindering police.
I was advised by my lawyers to accept that plea bargain as:
1. I had resisted arrest.
2. would most likely be found guilty of both resist and hinder regardless of my plea. 3. a guilty plea reduces the sentence by a “30 percent discount”. 4. If I was found guilty of assault i could lose my teaching licence.
I was also aware that my barrister cost me $500 per day and had been advised that a full trial might not be finished in two days. So in a five minute decision I agreed to the plead bargain.
The chief magistrate was informed “the matter has been resolved” and he ordered me to appear again in the magistrates court to be sentenced for the two crimes that I was now deemed “guilty” of committing - Resist Arrest and Hindering Police.
During my sentencing trial on the 24th of June my barrister was hardly permitted to speak by the new magistrate. In any case she wouldn't have been allowed to defend me for the crimes about which I had “admitted” my guilt. Her role would have been restricted to pleading my good character.
The magistrate was most interested in hearing his own voice berate me: “oh, why would you get involved” [in hindering police - which I didn’t], “Mr King thinks he has a monopoly on Justice” and “if you’d done the same thing [what thing?] in Indonesia or East Timor you would have been shot.” He went on and on. I had to sit silently listening politely to the magistrate berate me in front of an audience of 20 school students and 20 others.
I was thinking the whole time how I was the one who received the blows to the head and face a year before, not the police nor the magistrate - yet I was being humiliated in front of an audience by a man who was paid to do that.
Bizarrely, throughout the whole process, I was at no point asked, even verbally in the trail, how I pleaded. That was apparently all worked out in private lawyers meetings between the defence and the prosecution - which I was not permitted to attend. I never signed anything related to the pleas of guilt. Throughout the two court appearances i uttered a total of three words. They were, “can I speak?” to which my barrister turned to “shoosh” me, fearing I would be in contempt of court.
Had I been allowed to speak i would have simply said that I plead “not guilty” to hinder police which would have called the whole cosy plea bargain off and reset the whole trial to the beggining.
As it happened, the magistrate, having finished his rant decided that I should be fined $750 for my “crimes”. That takes my total costs for this case to $2000.
My lawyers on the whole are pleased with the outcome. Needless to say I am extremely angry about the entire process. My complaint against the police for the bashing is still with the Office of Police Integrity. The OPI has hand balled this case to the police themselves to internally “investigate”. Needless to say nothing will come of their “investigation” unless they facts are publicly exposed and the police are forced to act.
This is my third post about how I was bashed by Victoria Police, handcuffed, incarcerated overnight and then charged with assault, hindering police and resist arrest.
The police bashed and arrested me in front of 25 witnesses. On June 3, this year I came to the Magistrates Court with 5 of those witnesses willing to testify. The police had no one willing to testify for them - unless you count the police who were involved in the matter.
The various falsified police statements submitted in their Brief of Evidence had me:
1. Maneuvering my bike in between two police officers and their paddy wagon’s back doors to prevent them from putting someone in it.
2. Inciting a crowd of 25 onlookers to resist, hinder or attack the police who i am alleged to have said “are all racist, they breed them that way”.
3. Aggressively confronting police when asked for ID.
4. Resisting arrest
5. Simultaneously gripping two police officers by the throat and otherwise assaulting them by grabbing at their shoulders, tripping them and even ripping an epaulet from an officers shoulder!
Of all those alleged actions, only resisting arrest actually took place. The rest where made up by the police who illegally collaborated and unified their false statements. That is, they committed perjury to justify their illegal actions which included:
Repeatedly Striking me in the face with closed fists, striking me over the head with my own bicycle helmet, hospitalising an 18 year old woman by striking her face and bashing and arresting at least one other man.
There may have been more assaults but it is difficult to follow events when you are in the back of a paddy wagon with your hands cuffed behind your back.
All three of us where falsely charged; in my case with Assault, Hindering Police and Resist Arrest.
On the morning of my trial on June 3rd this year, a full 12 months after I was bashed, the police prosecutor offered to drop the assault charge in exchange for me pleading “guilty” to resist arrest and hindering police.
I was advised by my lawyers to accept that plea bargain as:
1. I had resisted arrest.
2. would most likely be found guilty of both resist and hinder regardless of my plea. 3. a guilty plea reduces the sentence by a “30 percent discount”. 4. If I was found guilty of assault i could lose my teaching licence.
I was also aware that my barrister cost me $500 per day and had been advised that a full trial might not be finished in two days. So in a five minute decision I agreed to the plead bargain.
The chief magistrate was informed “the matter has been resolved” and he ordered me to appear again in the magistrates court to be sentenced for the two crimes that I was now deemed “guilty” of committing - Resist Arrest and Hindering Police.
During my sentencing trial on the 24th of June my barrister was hardly permitted to speak by the new magistrate. In any case she wouldn't have been allowed to defend me for the crimes about which I had “admitted” my guilt. Her role would have been restricted to pleading my good character.
The magistrate was most interested in hearing his own voice berate me: “oh, why would you get involved” [in hindering police - which I didn’t], “Mr King thinks he has a monopoly on Justice” and “if you’d done the same thing [what thing?] in Indonesia or East Timor you would have been shot.” He went on and on. I had to sit silently listening politely to the magistrate berate me in front of an audience of 20 school students and 20 others.
I was thinking the whole time how I was the one who received the blows to the head and face a year before, not the police nor the magistrate - yet I was being humiliated in front of an audience by a man who was paid to do that.
Bizarrely, throughout the whole process, I was at no point asked, even verbally in the trail, how I pleaded. That was apparently all worked out in private lawyers meetings between the defence and the prosecution - which I was not permitted to attend. I never signed anything related to the pleas of guilt. Throughout the two court appearances i uttered a total of three words. They were, “can I speak?” to which my barrister turned to “shoosh” me, fearing I would be in contempt of court.
Had I been allowed to speak i would have simply said that I plead “not guilty” to hinder police which would have called the whole cosy plea bargain off and reset the whole trial to the beggining.
As it happened, the magistrate, having finished his rant decided that I should be fined $750 for my “crimes”. That takes my total costs for this case to $2000.
My lawyers on the whole are pleased with the outcome. Needless to say I am extremely angry about the entire process. My complaint against the police for the bashing is still with the Office of Police Integrity. The OPI has hand balled this case to the police themselves to internally “investigate”. Needless to say nothing will come of their “investigation” unless they facts are publicly exposed and the police are forced to act.
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