Unlawfully arrested on 19/02/25

This is my experience and opinions only - I was unlawfully arrested on 19 February 2025!

On the 19 February 2025, at around 8.40am I entered the New Plymouth District Court, New Zealand and went to the registrar's counter to get an affidavit affirmed. I got copies of the affidavits and got them certified as true copies. The registrar I spoke to said the file is already upstairs with Chris the Deputy Registrar working in court that day. I walked upstairs and spoke to the court people at the table;

I reorganised my affidavit copies on their table because the waiting room was full and there was nowhere to sit;

I walked inside the courtroom closest to the stairs. I waited until the man being seen had finished. Then I gave a copy of the affidavit to the security to give to the Deputy Registrar Chris and one copy was given by the security to the Police Prosecutor. And then I asked the Prosecution to come to me because I wanted to ask him if his boss is Kimberly McIntyre, to which he said yes. Then I walked out and downstairs to go to the registrar again to ask if a family court decision had been received from the judge yet as it’s been 3 weeks. The waiting room was full with nowhere to sit, so I would have gone back to wait after asking about my family matters;

Instead while walking down the first set of stairs, I was manhandled by Villy (last name Ten?), a New Zealand Police Authorised Officer, who had grabbed my arm. I then saw Sarah Hobbs, the other New Zealand Police Authorised Officer, had also grabbed my arm. I’m a survivor of domestic violence and their aggression caused my brain to go into fight/flight mode. I told both of them “Don’t you ever put your hands on me again”. They did not let go of my arm and Sarah Hobbs I think was the one who dragged me back into the courtroom. I told her to let go of me and “don’t you ever put your hands on me again”;

I look down at my arm and she is still holding my arm and I yank my arm away from her and then she gets right up in face and says “Do you wanna go” as in “do you want a fight?”;

I say “don’t you ever put your hands on me again”. Sarah Hobbs shoved me into the dock and I heard her say “You’re getting arrested”. Then I walk forward with my hands in the air and say “stress and duress, stress and duress”;

I’m through the door that leads to the custody cells downstairs of the courthouse and the Prosecutor (sworn New Zealand Police) walks over and reads the Bill of Rights only (You have the right to remain silent…etc), then he goes back into the courtroom, he didn’t tell me at all that I was under arrest;

Sarah Hobbs is walking downstairs and Villy (Ten) is behind me, so I walk downstairs;

Another NZ Police Authorised Officer named Jono? Is standing in the office doorway. Sarah Hobbs tells me to take off my black raincoat and take off my zip up sweatshirt. I say “no, it’s cold”. She then says that she will take it off me if she has to and begins to try and take it off me;

I tell her she has no authority and she’s working for a corporate entity. I also tell her she’s a kupapa (traitor). She then takes off my jacket and sweatshirt. It was a cold, rainy day and I was cold that’s why I wanted it on;

Then she shoves me into a cell;

Her and Villy walk back in the direction of the courtroom;

I need to go to the toilet so I bang on the door to try and get someone's attention and get some toilet paper. Villy walks back past the office and ignores me. Then as he walks back in the direction of the courtroom again he stops to talk to me. I had been banging for longer than 5 minutes at this stage. I ask why they’re ignoring me;

Villy says something along the lines of I need to knock nicely if I want something. He brings me toilet paper;

Shortly after, I’m then taken to the New Plymouth Police station and I ask the Custody Constable what I was arrested for and he says “disruptive behaviour in a public place”. I ask the other constable present what legislation that comes under and he says the Summary Offences Act. After being processed, I was put into a cell. While I’m in the cell, I see I have taken a patch of skin off on both my little fingers on each hand just from banging on the cell door at the New Plymouth District Courts. I was at the New Plymouth Police Station until around 2pm;

I’m told it’s time to return the New Plymouth courthouse, and I turn the corner in the police station from the cells to the counter to see Sarah Hobbs, the NZ Police Authorised Officer there waiting;

I again tell her to never put her hands on me again;

I say she must be new around here because that whole courthouse knows not to put there hands on me and she says “that’s what they’re doing wrong then”;

She gets right in my face again and says “keep going, what are you gonna do, what are gonna do?”;

I say to her “what are you going to do right now?”;

She gets in my face and says “nothing”;

Because I was triggered and angry at this mistreatment, I tell her she’s going to live in the gutter by the time I’m done with her;

Sarah Hobbs says “I’ve seen your record and you shouldn’t put your hands on people”;

I tell her “I’m a survivor of domestic violence and you don’t know what you’re talking about”;

I jump in the transport and am taken back to the courts;

We arrive at the courts and I’m let out of the van by Villy and walking to the cell again. Sarah Hobbs is standing at the cell with the door open. Seeing her again triggers me and I do karakia (cultural incantation) and practice tikanga (culture) while walking to the cell. Sarah Hobbs looks at me and says “I haven’t got time for this, hurry up”. She walks over to me and grabs my arm and drags me into the cell and shuts the door;

I’m then on the toilet midway through peeing and the cell door opens again and I see Sarah Hobbs. Another lady comes in and sits down to wait for her court hearing. I’m confused at this stage because I don’t know if it’s legal to have two people in a cell. I also recognise this woman, as I was in the cell at the New Plymouth Police station closest to the door where people exit. This woman was let out of this exit door earlier in the day by the Custody Constable and then let back in minutes later;

This woman starts to sniff what I assume is drugs in front of me and asks if I want some. I say “No, I don’t do any of that”... I say to her I was searched at the Police Station when I was locked up and asked how she got drugs in. She says she knows where to hide it. She says she has been locked up at the Police Station for two days now just sniffing drugs the whole time;

Jono? The other NZ Police Authorised Officer opens the door and leads me to the duty lawyer. After speaking to her, I then go back to the cell;

Eventually, I’m led to the courtroom for a bail hearing and then released to go home, no charges added;

Issues:

1. Sarah Hobbs and Villy (Ten?) are NZ Police Authorised Officers, with no powers of arrest or detainment - at no time did the only sworn Police Constable (with arrest powers) in the courtroom (being the Police Prosecutor) ever say to me “You’re under arrest” nor did he ever grab me to take me into his custody. In my eyes, Sarah Hobbs and Villy committed assault and battery on me. Sarah Hobbs especially was intimidating, aggressive and was the one who effected an unlawful arrest and detainment;

2. Sarah Hobbs was biased and unfairly treated me because she had seen my record and didn’t like what was recorded. Everyone has a right to impartiality and fair treatment according to the principles of natural justice. Everyone has a right of Appeal if decisions made by lower courts are wrong and if what NZ Police has on record is wrong. Sarah Hobbs used the information currently on record as a way to stand over me and to intimidate;

   She deals with many vulnerable people who have addictions, mental health issues and issues in general - some of our most vulnerable in society. If this is how she treats myself as someone who knows her rights and how I should be treated, then I can only imagine the way she’s treating those who don’t know or understand their rights and don’t have the confidence or voice to stand up for themselves. How many others has she read their records and used that information against them and mistreated them? How is her aggressive behaviour and unfair treatment affecting them once they leave her custody?;

3. All three NZ Police Authorised Officers (especially Sarah Hobbs), violated rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:

   Article 7, right to be free from inhumane treatment (no response by Authorised Officers because I didn’t knock on the cell door nicely enough)

   Article 9, right to not be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention and right to fair and humane treatment in custody;

   Article 26, right to non-discrimination;

4. Under the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules) my rights were violated:

   Rule 1: right to be treated with respect and dignity (violated by Sarah Hobbs who had the cell door wide open while I was on the toilet, and let someone else in while I was midway through peeing);

   My right to adequate conditions of detention was violated (withholding toilet paper);

5. Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, my rights were violated:

   Article 1, right to be treated with respect and dignity;

   Article 3, right to liberty;

   Article 5, right to be treated humanely;

   Article 9, right to not be subject to arbitrary arrest or detention;

   Article 17, right to not be arbitrarily deprived of my property (phone, sweatshirt, jacket);

6. Under the Bill of Rights Act 1990, my rights were violated:

   Section 9, my right to be treated with dignity and not in a degrading manner;

   Section 20, my right to practice tikanga as a member of a minority group (violated by Sarah Hobbs only);

   Section 27, right to justice (natural justice principles violated by Sarah Hobbs only);

7. Sarah Hobbs breached Te Tiriti o Waitangi and UNDRIP by not allowing me, who is tangata whenua (indigenous) practice my tikanga (culture);

   Sarah Hobbs breached my tapu (boundaries) when she put her hands on me in an aggressive manner and when she was standing over me, getting close up to my face, intimidating and threatening me;

8. Sarah Hobbs was overall intimidating, threatening, and aggressive the whole time;

9. Sarah Hobbs needs to be fired and although the other two New Zealand Police Authorised Officers violated my rights to some degree, they can be retrained, in my view Sarah Hobbs can’t be retrained as she just wanted to pick a fight the whole time;

10. I'm suspicious about Sarah Hobbs letting a woman who was sniffing drugs into my cell. I feel she was trying to set me up to have this woman offer me her drugs, which would allow them to have more charges on me. How many others has Sarah Hobbs and the other Authorised Officers done this to?;

I was arrested back in 2022, since then it appears the standards have dropped drastically and I worry for our most vulnerable people that are in custody if this is the current standard;

Since writing the above, I have discovered that there were no notes or transcripts taken by the Deputy Registrar as no actual “hearing” took place, therefore I now assume that no instructions were given by the Deputy Registrar to the NZ Police Authorised Officers or the Prosecutor. In my view, NZ Police acted on their own accord and I will now seek to hold them accountable for their intimidation and aggression. It’s clear to me that this was a set up because their current bs charges are weak and they know it.