A former police officer, Gediminas Palubinskas, has been accused of assaulting a man he was arresting. He appeared in Swansea Crown Court and denied the allegations that he assaulted Mikael Boukhari. The jury has been shown body camera footage of the alleged assault where witness Tammy Foster Wells can be heard shouting “you absolute bully”, “you are out of order” and “get off him”.
The prosecutor, Ieuan Rees, told the court that Mr Palubinskas was at the receiving end of a bite and punch, and that the incident left Mr Boukhari with a fracture, and bumps and bruises on his body. Additionally, Mr Boukhari testified in court that a day before the incident, Mr Palubinskas had stopped him in a van containing two other people, claiming he was driving the van despite no evidence for this. When Mr Boukhari tried to run away, Mr Palubinskas accused him of being disqualified.
In the footage shown in court, Mr Palubinskas is seen repeatedly saying “switch the engine off now” before Mr Boukhari gets out and starts running away. Eventually, Boukhari admits to being the driver of the van and claimed he had lied about it earlier because he was disqualified. The defense attorney, Sharonjit Bahia, argued that Mr Boukhari was spreading lies about whether he was driving the van, which Mr Boukhari denied.
The court has been informed that Mr Palubinskas denies all allegations of assault and the case continues. The evidence presented in the court is compelling and it remains to be seen what the verdict will be
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