Inspector Dean Gittoes Found Guilty @Auditing Wales

full video https://youtu.be/j1tFmKc8adU

Dean Gittoes had denied the charge of assault by beating

A police inspector has been found guilty of assaulting a 16-year-old who filmed him outside a police station.

Dean Gittoes, 49, had denied a charge of assault by beating but he was convicted at Cwmbran Magistrates' Court.

The court was shown footage filmed by the teenager outside Merthyr Tydfil police station in August 2021.

It was alleged the South Wales Police officer was aggressive and, at one point, choked him.

The teenager had told the officer he was part of a worldwide "auditing" group filming officers and how they interacted with the public.

But in the footage from the teenager's phone, Insp Gittoes was seen and heard saying "I am asking you who you are, what's your name" before saying he may be a terrorist.

The teenager told the officer he was entitled to film in public places and did not need to give his name.

Insp Gittoes was heard saying "you're a clever little internet freak who is going to learn the hard way".

He was also recorded saying "I'm sick of people filming us".

The court saw CCTV showing Insp Gittoes holding the 16-year-old's arm and walking with him into the police station and later arresting him.The teenager was released from custody without charge the same day.

The court heard that officers were instructed to allow members of the public to film them.

In closing speeches, prosecution advocate Jason Howells argued that the arrest of the boy was unlawful and that what followed was an assault when the boy was forced into the police station.

Mr Howells said that there were no "reasonable objective grounds for suspicion" that the boy was a potential terrorist.

Insp Gittoes was not on duty at the time and the court was told he failed to immediately identify himself as a police officer and did not give a caution at the time of the arrest.

Christopher Rees, defending, described it as a "unique case" as it was not as a result of a use of excessive force, but because the arrest was "presumed not lawful".

He said it was an "operational decision made by the officer in that moment" and that he was "forming a view in a moment" that he could be dealing with someone with "hostile intent".

'No threat to others'
District Judge Sophie Toms told Insp Gittoes that it was "not a calm exchange" when he approached the boy "as he tried to respond, you grabbed him forcibly and told him he was under arrest for terrorism".

As he was taken inside the police station, the district judge said the boy who was passively resisting had "his wrists twisted, he was pushed into the wall, you grabbed his hoodie and twisted it, he said 'I can't breathe'".

She said "unnecessary force was used against him" and said that what Insp Gittoes did were "not the actions of an officer who reasonably believed these were terrorism offences".

She said he had been frustrated by what he saw as the inaction of senior officers after previous filming outside the police station, and said he was "so wound up" that he "lost all rational thought".

"You marched towards him, clearly agitated, and you made a snap shot decision and you were unable to control yourself and your emotions.

"He was just 16 and no threat to you or others, he was crying out and you continued your unlawful assault against a vulnerable 16-year-old."

Insp Gittoes will be sentenced on 27 October at Newport Magistrates Court.