Met officer 'hit boy in face on way to hospital'

A Metropolitan Police officer struck a 16-year-old boy with mental health difficulties "multiple times in the face" as he was being transported to hospital, a court has heard.

PC Sevda Gonen, 33, and PC Stuart Price, 35, are on trial at Westminster Magistrates' Court charged with carrying out an unlawful search, amounting to assault by beating, on 14 November 2023.

PC Gonen, of Leytonstone, faces a further charge of assault for allegedly striking the boy with an open palm after "she allowed her frustrations to get the better of her".

Both officers deny the charges they face.

The court heard police were called after the boy was reported to have been aggressive at his home address and acted violently towards a mental health worker who was trying to assess him.

Prosecutor Lyndon Harris said PC Gonen "in particular disliked" the boy and "had formed the impression that he was wasting their time by faking some form of mental illness".

PC Price, from Cambridgeshire, offered to drive the boy to hospital in a police vehicle after his mother told officers she was concerned for her son's welfare.

The boy then climbed into the police vehicle but left his foot out, preventing the rear door from closing, the court heard.

Footage from inside the police vehicle showed the boy lit a cigarette and started to smoke.

The court heard that, after a struggle, the boy was placed in handcuffs but not arrested and was searched.

The prosecution alleges the search was unlawful as the boy had not been arrested and the officers had no powers to search him under Section 32 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act or Section 136 of the Mental Health Act.

PC Price can be heard on body-worn footage, shown in court, telling PC Gonen: "Just to let you know he's been spitting in my face."

The court heard the officers then agreed to section the boy and PC Gonen told him he was being sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

PC Gonen said she was worried about him spitting so put a coat collar by his mouth, the court heard.

The boy's eyes lowered and he became less responsive, with PC Price heard to say: "You alright, mate? We're just trying to help you mate."

PC Price then said to PC Gonen: "Yeah, he's hot to touch."

In footage shown to the court, PC Gonen appears to slap the boy's face several times while holding him by the hair.

The prosecution alleges this constituted assault by beating as it was excessive, not an approved technique, and "PC Gonen did not reasonably believe that it was necessary".

Mr Harris said it was an "unusual case" that raised "important considerations of the exercise of police powers when dealing not with detained suspects but a vulnerable child in the throes of a mental health crisis".

The trial continues.

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