Court ends case against police charged over tasering and pepper spraying ‘vulnerable’ First Nations man

Two senior police officers, Andrew David Couchman and Ulrich Weiss, have had their criminal charges permanently stayed after a court found "defects" in the investigation of the 2024 incident at the Mareeba watch house in far north Queensland. The officers, both senior constables, were charged over the use of capsicum spray, Tasers, and restraints on a "cognitively and emotionally vulnerable" First Nations man in police custody.

The court found that the investigation contained "defects" due to a detective inserting a "false" account into the alleged victim's statement. The man, who was 23 at the time of the incident, was diagnosed with schizophrenia and had requested paracetamol from his cell. He was subsequently sprayed with capsicum spray, Tasered four times, and left in a restrained position in a solitary confinement cell for over two hours.

The man's statement, which was drafted by Detective Senior Sergeant Kim Cavell, included a paragraph stating that he "did not consent" to the use of force, but he did not use those words during the interviews with detectives. The court ruled that this statement, which was not derived from the content of the interviews, was "false" and had produced a "fundamental defect" in the proceedings.

District Court Judge Dean Morzone rejected the prosecution's argument that the trial should still proceed, stating that public confidence in the investigation had two faces and did not both look the same way. He emphasized that vulnerable people in custody are entitled to the protection of the law and that the community expects allegations of this kind to be tried publicly by a jury. The court's permanent stay of the charges is tantamount to a continuing immunity from prosecution.