A Police officer beat up a schoolboy after arresting him for stealing his bike, Magistrates' Court heard.

Devron Richardson, who was 15 at the time of the alleged attack, claimed P.c. Terrance Baldwin Smith punched him in the face in the back of a paddy wagon until he passed out then threatened to “hunt him” if he took him to court.

Smith, 43, denies assaulting the youth last year, and his lawyer has claimed the youth sustained injuries to his face while trying to escape from the van.

The court also heard Smith's senior officer rebuked him for “totally unprofessional” behaviour after he had to be physically separated from the boy's father at Hamilton Police Station following a “shouting match” over the alleged attack.

Mr. Richardson admitted in court he had stolen Smith's push bike from a kennel at his home using bolt cutters.

He said he was arrested by Smith on Parsons Road, Pembroke, on February 13 last year and initially lied that he had found the bike in trees, then said he had bought it.

He told Magistrate William Francis he was put into the back of a Police van by Smith and two other officers.

The youth claimed after he denied to Smith that he enjoyed stealing, the officer punched him on the left hand side of the face.

“I was shocked and didn't really realise it until I got hit again in the same way. After the second hit, I started crying,” he told Crown counsel Cindy Clarke.

“After we drove off I was hit again, and that's when I passed out. When I was coming to I was still being hit.

“I don't know how long I was out for. We were driving and he (Smith) was still asking me questions but I didn't really hear. He stopped for a minute and he said ‘every time I look at you I am going to hit you'.”

He said that at Hamilton Police Station, Smith took him to a room and “he said if this ever gets to court he will hunt me down”. He denied a suggestion by Smith's lawyer Delroy Duncan that he ran away when Police first tried to arrest him and that he also tried to escape from the Police van. But he admitted he had originally been charged with escaping lawful custody, as well as theft, and damage to property - although he was never taken to court. The schoolboy also denied Mr. Duncan's suggestion that he sustained his injuries when he hit Smith's shoulder as he tried to block him leaving the vans.

During cross-examination, Mr. Richardson admitted the stolen bike was placed between him and Smith and the other two officers in the back of the van, but he dismissed Mr. Duncan's suggestion it would be “impossible” then for the Policeman to punch him. Mr. Richardson's father Kevin told the court he was angry when his son told him at the station that Smith had punched him. He said that when he warned Smith he was “not going to let it rest,” the officer “lurched” at him and had to be restrained by two other officers.

He said he began praying out loud and that when the two Policemen loosened their grip on Smith, he again came at him before he was escorted out of the area. He agreed with Mr. Duncan that he did shout at Smith to ask him if he saw his son take the bike and admitted he was “emotionally agitated, not physically agitated”. Prosecution witness Sergeant Gregory Grimes said he noticed the boy had a swelling below his eye and was dabbing his nose with a handkerchief.

He said Smith “attempted to go towards Mr. Richardson (senior) in a hostile manner” when he denied hitting the youth.

“Both myself and acting Inspector Steven Donnelly tried to calm down P.c. Smith and eventually we were able to take him out of the corridor. At that point acting Insp. Donnelly ordered that P.c. Smith should leave the jail area, to which he complied.”

Acting Insp. Donnelly testified that the boy's father was also “very agitated” at the station and that he and the defendant got into “a shouting match” after Smith was accused of hitting the boy. “They both started to shout at one another and Sgt. Grimes stepped in between them and asked P.c. Smith to leave the jail area. I could see that P.c. Smith was very upset. He remained where he was and they again got into a shouting match and I physically pulled P.c. Smith towards the exit door and told him to leave, which he did. I called P.c. Smith to my office and explained to him that his behaviour was totally unprofessional and not what I expected of an officer of his experience. P.c. Smith apologised for his actions and said he was upset because he had been accused of assaulting the boy, which he denied.”

The trial resumes today.