Earthquake fatigue set in pretty early for me, and I have zero interest in crime news, and so when stories of people being arrested in Christchurch for looting began to appear, I ignored them. In the process, I managed to ignore an important story - because (as Russell Brown points out) one of the accused Christchurch looters appeared in court bearing clear evidence of having been beaten:
(Photo stolen from the linked Christchurch Star story).
Russell outright accuses the police of beating this man - and it is the natural conclusion to draw. They arrested him, and he was in their custody; the onus is on them to explain how these injuries occurred, and what they are doing to ensure that the perpetrators are identified and charged. If they fail or refuse to do so, it looks like a coverup, the police protecting their own (again), or looking the other way on vigilante justice. And neither can be tolerated in our police force.
Update: Its been confirmed. From PASystem:
His foster sister spoke to Arie and Arie confirmed that it was the police that Beat himSo, we have more criminal police, engaging in third world behaviour and beating suspects as revenge. Lovely.
