A female police officer struck a woman multiple times because she feared her head would be repeatedly smashed into the footpath by an “obnoxious” anti-vaccination political candidate, a court has heard.
Key points:
- Raina Cruise has pleaded not guilty to aggravated assault and intentionally causing harm to a police officer
- The officer involved has told the court she was scared for her safety
- Ms Cruise’s lawyer has told the court the officer did not have lawful authority to arrest his client on the night
Standing trial in Adelaide’s District Court, without a jury, Raina Jane Cruise pleaded not guilty to one count of aggravated assault and intentionally causing harm to a police officer, while she was intoxicated on a night out in Adelaide’s CBD in October 2021.
Police were called to question Ms Cruise and two other men after reports that they had removed people’s masks at the Exeter Hotel before they assaulted two security guards, with the interaction captured on the officers’ body cameras and on CCTV.
Ms Cruise is accused of pulling “clumps of actual hair” out of the scalp of the female officer, dragging her to the ground, and striking her multiple times to the face while saying “I’ll take you one-on-one,” when an attempt was made to arrest the woman.
Facing cross-examination the officer involved, Constable Anthea Beck, said she threw multiple strikes at Ms Cruise because she was “scared for her safety” when the woman had a hold of her hair while on top of her.
“I have this person who is fairly heavy sitting on top of me — I was alone, there was no one coming,” Constable Beck said.
“How many times was she going to hit my head into the footpath?
“I had to do something.”
Ms Cruise’s lawyer, Andy Graham, argued to the court that his client was not “aggressive” until Constable Beck first made physical contact and claimed that the officer had attempted to paint his client as a “villain”.
“The aggression starts when Constable Beck pushes her away,” Mr Graham said.
“She wasn’t someone who was aggressive but just drunk and standing in your personal space … she made it clear that she didn’t want to be touched and you initiated that.”
The court heard that Ms Cruise “slapped” Constable Beck, scratching her face and knocking off her hat, when the officer placed her hand on her shoulder.
Mr Graham said that Constable Beck had no “lawful authority” to arrest Ms Cruise for failing to identify herself because his client did not have proof of ID on her, and the officer did not say the words “you’re under arrest” before touching his client’s shoulder.
“A threat to arrest someone for an offence that has not been committed and you know has not been committed … doesn’t amount to an assault,” he said.
“She is not paying close attention to the extent of her powers.
“Threatening to arrest someone without proper cause would be an assault.”
Prosecutor Greg Dudzinski disputed these arguments, stating that it was clear to police that the accused had been in an earlier “violent altercation” and that the officers were immediately met with “aggression”.
“The hostility was near instant and completely unwarranted,” Mr Dudzinksi said.
“It’s clear from the footage who the aggressors are — all three are being argumentative, defiant and hostile and it’s not surprising that Constable Beck was feeling very concerned.”
Mr Dudzinski told the court the general nature of the arrest was “bluntly” obvious because the group was approached by police around 30 minutes after the earlier assault at the Exeter Hotel.
“There’s nothing that accused says that she is acting in self-defence — there is no fear there is only aggression,” he said.
“The law doesn’t expect a officer under attack to utter every single word ‘You are under arrest’.”
Ms Cruise ran in the 2022 federal election for the Informed Medical Options Party, campaigning for bodily autonomy, and was a regular at anti-vaccination rallies.
Judge Jo-Anne Deuter will also consider written submissions before handing down the verdict at a later date.