An Auckland Hells Angel member charged with bloodying the face of a man in Peggy Gordon's pub had his silver rings and gang-patched hoodie returned yesterday after a New Plymouth judge decided there was insufficient evidence against him.
Dennis Bernard Vermeulen, 45, was charged with injuring an Inglewood man with intent the weekend of the national tattoo festival in the city in November.
At an earlier appearance, the court was told that the assault was the result of the victim pulling Vermeulen's beard.
But yesterday in the judge-only hearing, all but one of the witnesses for the prosecution - one of whom was the victim - failed to turn up.
And the one independent witness who did give evidence was not asked to positively identify Vermeulen in court.
The witness, who was given name suppression, described how the victim was held by Hell's Angel members and then kneed by one of them about 12 times as he lay in a booth.
The witness told the court the attack, which he demonstrated to those present, was so violent he did not expect the victim to get up again.
After the prosecution case was finished Vermeulen's lawyer Simon Lance asked for the charge to be dismissed.
There was no evidence that his client was in the bar "let alone part of the fracas", Mr Lance said.
There was no blood found on Vermeulen's jeans and the ring which police said had blood on it was not sent for DNA testing.
Prosecutor Lewis Sutton opposed the application, saying there was a case to answer.
Judge Max Courtney said the case turned on the identification of Vermeulen.
The victim had told police he was unable to identify his attacker.
And the witness had identified the attacker to a police officer in a walkby that night.
He described him as one of a group of half a dozen Hells Angels wearing fawny-brown hoodies with patches.
The witness was not asked if he could identify anyone in court and did not do so, the judge said.
The Hells Angels' hoodie produced in court was black with red insignia. There was no blood analysis of the ring.
The judge said he found the evidence so tenuous he accepted there was no case to answer and dismissed the charge.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/8978627/Lack-of-evidence-puts-paid-to-case
Dennis Bernard Vermeulen, 45, was charged with injuring an Inglewood man with intent the weekend of the national tattoo festival in the city in November.
At an earlier appearance, the court was told that the assault was the result of the victim pulling Vermeulen's beard.
But yesterday in the judge-only hearing, all but one of the witnesses for the prosecution - one of whom was the victim - failed to turn up.
And the one independent witness who did give evidence was not asked to positively identify Vermeulen in court.
The witness, who was given name suppression, described how the victim was held by Hell's Angel members and then kneed by one of them about 12 times as he lay in a booth.
The witness told the court the attack, which he demonstrated to those present, was so violent he did not expect the victim to get up again.
After the prosecution case was finished Vermeulen's lawyer Simon Lance asked for the charge to be dismissed.
There was no evidence that his client was in the bar "let alone part of the fracas", Mr Lance said.
There was no blood found on Vermeulen's jeans and the ring which police said had blood on it was not sent for DNA testing.
Prosecutor Lewis Sutton opposed the application, saying there was a case to answer.
Judge Max Courtney said the case turned on the identification of Vermeulen.
The victim had told police he was unable to identify his attacker.
And the witness had identified the attacker to a police officer in a walkby that night.
He described him as one of a group of half a dozen Hells Angels wearing fawny-brown hoodies with patches.
The witness was not asked if he could identify anyone in court and did not do so, the judge said.
The Hells Angels' hoodie produced in court was black with red insignia. There was no blood analysis of the ring.
The judge said he found the evidence so tenuous he accepted there was no case to answer and dismissed the charge.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/8978627/Lack-of-evidence-puts-paid-to-case
