Damning video shows NSW cops assaulting prisoner

A NSW magistrate has released damning security footage that reveals three police officers violently assaulting a young man following his arrest in Ballina, on the NSW north coast.

The graphic video, recorded on closed circuit television cameras at Ballina police station, can be published by the Herald after lawyers for the three officers confirmed they would not contest its release.

The trio, who are on restricted duties at Ballina, have today been spared a referral to the Supreme Court for lying under oath about their actions.

However, in announcing that decision, magistrate David Heilpern said the Police Integrity Commission had launched a full corruption investigation into the incident.

Ballina Local Court had previously heard the case of Corey Barker, who allegedly threw a plastic bottle at police and then resisted arrest during an altercation on January 14 last year.

When Mr Barker was taken to the local police station, officers claimed he yelled and was disruptive in the dock, prompting them to move him to the rear cells.

The officers said that, when they tried to move the 22-year-old, he allegedly assaulted a senior constable, David Hill, punching him in the face and flailing his arms around in a bid to break free. Senior Constable Hill said video tapes of the incident were damaged and could not be used.

However, when the damaged tapes were obtained by the police prosecutor and repaired during Mr Barker's assault hearing, they showed there was no assault. In fact, it appeared the situation was the complete opposite.

The video shows another police officer, Senior Constable Ryan Eckersley, kicking Mr Barker in the head region while he was on the ground, and a third officer, Lee Walmsley, kneeing him in the side.

In a judgment handed down last month, Mr Heilpern said: "It was crystal clear that the defendant at no time punched Senior Constable Hill in the nose as described."

He found senior constables Hill and Eckersley had colluded before giving evidence to the court, and that the former had then lied under oath in an effort to cover it up.

Mr Heilpern said the incident had "debased the administration of justice". "It is hard to imagine a clearer example of bad faith than initiating proceedings on the basis of an allegation of an assault that simply did not occur," he said.

He said the damage to the CCTV footage was "suspicious".

"It beggars belief that the video just happened to be unavailable for that incident. The problem is not recorded in the [police] register, despite Senior Constable Hill saying that it was."

The magistrate found that, even when shown the footage, the officer "refused to accept that what was depicted was what had occurred". "It was as though there were two parallel universes in court: the imaginary one of Senior Constable Hill, and the real one that the rest of us - including the prosecutor - could see," the magistrate said.

Senior Constable Eckersley continued to claim he had not kicked Mr Barker in the head.

Mr Barker was left handcuffed for more than an hour.

The case was thrown out in February, and in early July Mr Heilpern ordered police to pay $30,000 to cover Mr Barker's legal costs.

A spokeswoman for the PIC told the Herald: "The commission is giving the complaint serious consideration." [Good of them!]

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