Police officers appear in court charged with assault in Sussex
Four Sussex Police officers have been accused of assault, in separate incidents, in Crawley and Brighton.
Lorenzo Fenu, 28, and Richard Harris, 36, appeared at Sevenoaks Magistrates’ Court, on Tuesday (November 10). This was in connection with an incident at Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton, on April 16.
The prosecution told the court a man was handcuffed at the time of the alleged assault and sustained a fractured elbow.
The officers pleaded not guilty to the allegation.
The charge was brought following an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct – into alleged unlawful force on a man detained in hospital, under the Mental Health Act.
District Judge Claire Luxford sent their case to Maidstone Crown Court, for a plea and trial preparation hearing, on December 7.
Elsewhere, Sussex Police officers James Reilly, 41, and Pablo Cabanes, 25, pleaded not guilty to assaulting a man in Crawley, in March. This was a separate case, heard at the same court, on Tuesday.
Their case was also sent to Maidstone Crown Court on December 7.
All four defendants, Fenu, of Hove; Harris, of Shoreham; Reilly, of Haywards Heath; and Cabanes, of Horsham, were granted unconditional bail.
The charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm were brought following two investigations, by the Independent Office for Police Conduct.