TWO police officers have denied perjury charges against them and plan to fight the cases at a court hearing expected to span five days in Armidale.
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Nigel Douglas Kentish, who has left the force, appeared in Armidale Local Court on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to nine charges, including perjury, fabricating evidence, giving false or misleading evidence and assault.
His co-accused, Sergeant Anthony Kirk, also appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to perjury and fabricating false evidence to mislead a judicial tribunal.
Magistrate Michael Holmes said he would preside over the cases at a hearing, set down for a full week in late August.
But a solicitor for the Director of Public Prosecutions Group Six office – which prosecutes matters involving police – said he wanted to inquire on any dealings Mr Holmes had had with the two officers in relation to “credibility” and “if there were any findings on believability”.
“I don’t socialise with police, I don’t associate with police, I don’t have anything to do with police and I might add I have nothing to do with solicitors,” Mr Holmes told the court.
Mr Holmes said he knew the pair in a professional capacity when they were serving Armidale police officers who came to court as part of their duties.
“I have no view about credibility, I have an open mind,” he said.
The pair were charged by the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) in December with offences that alleg- edly occurred while they were both on duty six years ago in Armidale.
The DPP applied to have the second matter involving Kentish allegedly giving evidence before the Police Integrity Commission split from the first matters involving both men, but Mr Holmes rejected the application.
“I’m not going to split the matters,” he said, adding he wanted the areas of contention particularised ahead of the court hearing.
The court heard that much of the case will rely on transcripts from the local court hearing, as well as PIC material which was in “transcript form”.
The PIC alleges Kentish, a 60-year-old Armidale local, assaulted a woman in September, 2009, at the police station and then fabricated false evidence in parts of an official police statement on the incident, with intent to mislead the local court in proceedings in October, 2010.
Kentish is also charged with making the false statements under oath.
Kirk, 50, is charged with allegedly falsifying part of a statement he made in September, 2009, about what caused “Senior Constable Kentish to fall in the dock”, before allegedly making the statement under oath in court.