THE attorney-general has directed the DPP to look at appeal avenues in the case against a Glen Innes gang of four who escaped jail after bashing two police officers.

Yesterday, The Leader revealed brother and sister, Samuel Tobias Boney and Judith Dawn Boney, together with de facto couple Kasandra Daley and Brian Joseph Boney, had hugged and high-fived one another outside the Armidale District Court after being placed on good behaviour bonds and supervised orders for the violent attack in Glen Innes in the early hours of March 30, 2014.

The Police Association of NSW has come out swinging against the sentence, arguing police officers aren’t punching bags.

“It was absolutely devastating and morale-sapping for local police to realise these four are high-fiving and hugging each other outside Armidale court,” association president Scott Weber told The Leader yesterday.

“I think we need to remember there were two senior constables doing their job when they were set upon and punched numerous times – their clothing was ripped, (they needed) X-rays (and suffered) swollen eyes and blurred vision.”

The female officer was punched eight to 10 times, suffered blurred vision for almost three weeks and had to have X-rays after her eye was swollen shut.

Her male counterpart was punched in the back of the head and kicked, before one offender attempted to remove his gun, yelling, “I’ll shoot you c****, I’ll shoot you dogs.”

The officers withdrew back to the police station and were treated by paramedics, after several back-up officers were called in to arrest the group.

The group of four, who spent just over 200 days in custody awaiting trial, were convicted of affray in court last week, and Samuel and Judith also pleaded guilty to assault and resist offences, stemming from the attack. 

A spokesman for Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton confirmed the minister was made aware of the sentence after seeing The Leader’s front page early yesterday morning and has asked the Director of Public Prosecutions to investigate and look at any appeal avenues.

“The attorney-general has spoken to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Lloyd Babb, and he has agreed to review the case, given the seriousness of the matter,” the spokesman said.

The story has shocked police and outraged parts of the community, and even made talk-back radio in Sydney yesterday, with the police association calling for tougher penalties for those who attack officers on the front line.

“We’re extremely frustrated with the soft sentence given to a gang of four that walked free last week,” Mr Weber said.

“It is not how you enforce the law in court and we need to ensure citizens and police are protected.

“This is a serious attack, a serious assault on police officers and again the lack of respect and the message this sends to the community in regards to assaulting police is not the message the judiciary or the community wants.”