THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4: A Police constable told a court today how he was threatened with a stick, poked in the eye and attacked with a rock by a man he was trying to arrest.

P.c. Richard Geraghty also described how Troy Smith later called him a “white c***” and a “slave beater” on July 4 this year.

The officer gave evidence this morning at the Magistrates’ Court trial of Smith, who denies assaulting the officer, resisting arrest and having an offensive weapon.

P.c. Geraghty told prosecutor Nicole Smith he attended Smith’s home in Plaice’s Point Road, Pembroke, after a report of a violent domestic incident.

As soon as he and his partner arrived, he said, he saw Smith “extremely agitated” and “hopping” with a stick in his right hand.

He said Smith “came advancing very quickly towards” him after he told him to drop the weapon. Soon after, he said: “I felt very threatened for myself and my partner.”

Under cross-examination by Smith’s lawyer Graveney Bannister, the officer denied flying into a rage and beating up the defendant. “That didn’t happen,” he said, adding that he followed all his training and did not breach any protocols.

See more in-depth reporting on this case in tomorrow’s Royal Gazette