The Nouméa municipal police officer responsible for violence against a young man arrested at 6th Km, in Nouméa on May 25, was convicted on June 7. He received a sentence of ten months’ imprisonment, with a ban on holding public office for five years and a ban on holding or carrying a weapon for five years.
The video made the rounds on social networks at the end of last May. It showed a Nouméa municipal police officer violently hitting a young man in the head who had already been subdued, his hands handcuffed to the ground. Acts committed on May 25, rue Jacques Iewake at the 6th Km, near a wine merchant.
On June 7, the prosecution initiated proceedings “as part of the appearance procedure on prior admission of guilt” indicates the public prosecutor Yves Dupas, against the municipal agent in question, for willful violence by persons holding public authority.
On the facts, which occurred around 11 p.m. on May 25, the public prosecutor indicates “that a Nouméa municipal police patrol spotted a group of individuals wearing balaclavas, who were trying to open the door of the business. As they fled, one of the suspects was arrested, handcuffed and placed in a sitting position on the ground.”. It was then that the municipal police officer violently kicked the arrested man in the face. “The medical examination revealed the presence of several bruises, particularly in the mandible (lower jaw bone), justifying total incapacity for work for two days.”, specifies Yves Dupas.
During his hearings in police custody, “the police officer declared that he had managed to arrest and then subdue the alleged perpetrator of the attempted theft, during a chase over a distance of 150 meters. The young man, aged 18, resisted his arrest and uttered multiple insults towards the police”.
Still during his hearings, the municipal police officer in question admitted that after the control and handcuffing of the young man, sitting while waiting to be placed in the service vehicle, he had kicked “by lacking discernment, in an impulsive gesture, out of anger, in a reaction to the insults and aggressive behavior of the person concerned”.
The municipal police officer was therefore tried on June 7 for intentional violence, followed by total incapacity for work not exceeding eight days, by a person holding public authority. Facts committed repeatedly, “following a judgment rendered in 2021, for violence by a spouse or partner”, adds the prosecutor.
He was sentenced to ten months’ imprisonment, he was also banned from holding public office for five years and banned from possessing or carrying a weapon for five years.
Yves Dupas who specifies this Friday afternoon that “the judicial institution carries out its missions with objectivity and impartiality, and in complete independence”.
