Bartamaha (Nairobi):- A 22-YEAR-OLD Somali man has received more than $70,000 in compensation over his claim that he was the victim of a police assault and malicious prosecution.
The Age has learnt that the payment to Ahmed Dini was part of an out-of-court settlement that the police force agreed to last month after a civil case for assault against two officers and the state was taken to the County Court.
The incident happened on February 14, 2007 at Flemington police station.
Mr Dini, from Flemington, was 18. He complained a police officer ran up to him and hit him in the mouth with a torch, while he was handcuffed, smashing some of his teeth.
”He needed dental surgery,” said one of the lawyers who handled the case at the time.
Mr Dini – Moonee Valley Council’s youth citizen of 2007 and now an assistant multicultural development office for the Essendon Football Club – was among four men placed on community-based orders over an affray involving weapons on New Year’s Eve 2008.
Another civil case has been lodged in the County Court by three African men against the police over assault claims in which one, a 19-year-old, lost part of the sight in one eye.
The claim is for assault and false imprisonment against eight policemen who were based at Moonee Ponds police station at the time of an incident on February 24, 2007.
The men, two of whom were under 18, were taken to the police station where one man claimed he had a torch slammed into his face, striking his eye.
A complaint was made to the Office of Police Integrity. It was referred to the police and was dismissed.
Details of the compensation payment have emerged a day afterThe Age revealed that a report by several legal services claimed police across Melbourne were assaulting and racially taunting young Africans.
The report, produced by the Springvale Monash Legal Service, was based on interviews with 30 Africans and eight community workers in Flemington, Braybrook and Dandenong. It is expected to be released tomorrow.
It found that almost all the participants reported experiencing police violence and that African youths were regularly stopped and questioned.
Many police viewed their presence in parks as ”a threat”, it found.
Community development worker Shane Reside, a co-author of the report, said victims of police assaults did not want their real names used because they were scared of retaliation.
Victoria Police yesterday did not respond to questions from The Age about the compensation payout.
Earlier yesterday, however, chief commissioner Simon Overland, responding to The Age report, acknowledged there might be a small number of racists in the force.
But he said great progress had been made in building community relations in some areas.
”We are not going to get it right all the time,” he said. As in the general community, ”there will be a small number of police who will have racist attitudes”. ”When we find them, they will be dealt with,” he said.
Mr Overland said he would like to see the police force reflect the community, but recruiting African officers had proved a challenge.
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Source:- theage

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