Cop's courtroom grope dismissed as ‘joke'
A police prosecutor who was found to have harassed a female court officer while working inside a courtroom has been cleared of all charges, on the basis that the act could have been 'a joke'.
SA Police officer Greg Hill, 62, was charged with aggravated indecent assault after he was reported for 'tickling' the left buttock of the court officer after she called him into a courtroom in 2022.
The woman was working as a court officer, which ensures the smooth running of the court and includes letting lawyers know when they are required in the courtroom.
The woman told police she was holding the door open for Mr Hill when he 'touched her left buttock'.
She described the touch as 'feeling his fingers move in a tickling movement'.
'It made her angry as he had no permission to touch her,' the court heard.
She told police she said to him: 'I wouldn't be doing anything like that to me if I were you' to which Mr Hill 'stepped back and laughed'.
She then said: 'I'm serious, I'll have you for sexual harassment' before Mr Hill replied: 'I don't know whether to take you seriously or not'.
The incident was captured on CCTV and showed that Mr Hill had his fingers 'curled' and that 'movement of his fingers was consistent with a tickling motion'.
The magistrate was 'satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt' that Mr Hill 'deliberately tickled [the woman's] left buttock, it could not be proven that he did so for 'sexual gratification or [to] cause sexual humiliation.'
The magistrate said that while the 'harassing, unacceptable and disrespectful' act amounted to 'unwanted touching' - the element of indecency could not be proven.
'It was just as likely the action was a joke or ill-conceived gesture,' the magistrate said.
'There was no suggestion of any flirting behaviour by the defendant. The touch was not accompanied by any comment or other behaviour.'
He was found not guilty and acquitted of the charge.
The matter was put before the SA Supreme Court last week after the Commissioner of Police appealed against the acquittal.
Supreme Court Justice Laura Stein dismissed the appeal on Thursday, finding the magistrate did not err in finding a 'failure to establish sexual intention'.
'Regardless of that conclusion, I reiterate the Magistrate's comments that the behaviour was harassing, unacceptable, inappropriate and should not have occurred,' Justice Stein said in her decision.
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