ID :
50653
Mon, 03/16/2009 - 09:05
Auther :

Attacks on WA police up after court case

(AAP) - Four West Australian police have been injured in two separate attacks just days after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd expressed shock at a jury finding three Perth men not guilty of assaulting police.

After Perth talkback radio "went into meltdown" and internet websites posted
thousands of comments expressing outrage at the jury verdict, three police officers
were injured when they went to break up a brawl outside a city bar at midnight on
Friday.
Less than 24 hours later, a 30-year-old constable was injured by a flying bottle
when he answered complaints arising from a wild street party involving more than 150
people in south-east suburban Cannington.
Police said all four officers required hospital treatment, with the three injured on
Friday having since been sent home.
Four people have been charged over the Friday night attack, in which one man
allegedly injured an officer when he jumped on his back as he attempted to arrest
his son.
A woman involved in the melee is alleged to have punched an officer several times in
the head.
The victim of the latest attack, Constable Tristan Taylor, suffered a back injury
when he was struck by a full bottle of spirits.
He remained in Royal Perth Hospital on Sunday, where his condition was described as
stable. Nobody has yet been charged with his assault, although to people face
disorderly conduct charges.
The WA government has said it will introduce mandatory sentencing for people who
assault police following Thursday's jury verdict, which cleared three men of any
involvement in a pub brawl.
Perth policeman Matthew Butcher was left paralysed and with brain damage and sight
impairment after he was knocked unconscious by a headbutt during a fracas outside
the Joondalup Old Bailey Tavern in February last year.
The District Court jury found Robert McLeod, 56, and his sons Barry McLeod, 29 and
Scott McLeod, 35, not guilty of assaulting Constable Butcher.
Barry McLeod was alleged to have endangered the life of Constable Butcher by felling
him with what prosecutors described as a "flying headbutt".
In the only conviction against the men, Scott McLeod was fined $4,000 for making
threats to kill a civilian who recorded the incident on his mobile phone.
Family, friends and colleagues of Const Butcher say they are in disbelief over the
verdicts, while talkback radio stations reported their switchboards "went into
meltdown" over the issue.
Mr Rudd said on Friday he had been shocked after arriving in Perth to see a
newspaper report of the attack and the jury's decision.
He said it was a "wake-up call" for communities across the country to support their
police forces.
Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan, who says the jury's decision will
"undoubtedly" affect police morale and has already led to resignations, is yet to
comment on the latest attacks.
WA Police Union president Mike Dean said on Sunday it was too early to link the
attacks to last Thursday's jury verdict.
"We have four assaults a day - I can't judge these individual incidents but it seems
to me they're just a couple that have got publicity," he said.
"It seems to be that four's become acceptable. The trend's been up for years.
"Unfortunately some very public opinions have been dictated by what I call the soft
option group and it appears to me to be a total degeneration of the law and order
structure.
"To be frank, I just see the naivety of our politicians, the lack of caring about
this issue by anyone ...
"By next week everyone's forgotten about it."




X