Security guard punched teenage boy in the testicles before falsely detaining him in Chichester Superdrug, court hears

Rangers Jake De-Geus, 30, from Chichester, and Edwin Hirst, 40, from Fareham, are both accused of the false imprisonment of two teenagers during an incident at the Chichester store on March 22 last year.

Both defendants, contracted to work for the Chichester BID are also accused of assaulting a teenager – and Hirst is accused of assaulting a second boy.

Prosecutor Paul Fairley told the court that the two boys were looking to buy shampoo with another friend when the private security guards started following them, and started ‘messing around’ to ‘get a rise’ out of the rangers, including by putting a bottle in someone’s pocket.

The court heard that De-Geus headbutted one of the teenagers and, along with Hirst, used unjustified force to detain the complainants. Hirst is also accused of punching one of the complainants in the testicles.

"It’s accepted by the two defendants that they decided to follow (the complainants), staying very close to them, making sure that they weren’t doing anything or stealing anything,” Mr Fairley said.

“There was an almighty struggle, stock was knocked from the shelves as (the complainant) was swung by Mr De-Geus into the stand. Other members of staff came to see what the commotion was.”

The court heard that the other teenager “tried to pull the other security guard off and got a punch to the testicles for his trouble by Mr Hirst”.

Mr Fairley added that the two security guards claim to have had a legal right to detain the teenagers, similar to a citizen’s right to arrest someone for acting illegally, and that De-Geus claimed one of the complainants ‘squared up’ to and headbutted him during the commotion. The trial takes place after a video of the incident was circulated on social media.

The first complainant told the court he had noticed a ranger standing nearby to him, and had argued with the two defendants: “I think it might have been something like ‘Why are you following us?’” he said. He added that the guards “weren’t physically angry but they looked annoyed” as his friend started to “wind them up”.

He told the court he had joined in with the joking by pretending to put a shampoo bottle in his friend’s pocket, in full view of the guards. ““It’s obvious I am not stealing, I am smiling in the ranger’s face as it happened,” he said.

The complainant went on to explain that De-Geus initiated a physical confrontation: “He got really close to me, in my personal space, I look up and he is like really angry, gritting his teeth and then he grabbed my wrist and then started tussling, he threw me into one of the aisles.

"I got put on my front and then they are both on me, their knees on my thighs and top of my back, along my back and on me. They got my hands behind my back and trying to get me in cuffs but I am squirming, I am in pain, just trying to get out.”

He said that De-Geus had told him: “I have been waiting for you to do something.” He added: “Once they have got me in cuffs, I started shouting and screaming, I got really angry.”

The complainant said that he felt he had not done anything to deserve being detained and added: “I wasn’t aggressive at all or anything like that.”

The complainant told the court that he had been banned from entering the Greggs and Sports Direct stores in Chichester and he had previously had a “joking” interaction with the defendants in the city’s Boots store.

“I have stolen potato wedges from Greggs. I am not proud of it, it’s a stupid thing to do obviously,” he said, before admitting that he refused to leave when the Superdrug security guards asked him to because he was “having fun” and admitted being “rude” but denied being “aggressive”. He also denied being aggressive towards staff at Greggs and Sports Direct on different occasions and said he had been trying to “calm down” the situation at Sports Direct.

The complainant denied that he had headbutted De-Geus and said he did not remember the defendant saying: “I have just been assaulted, we are phoning the police.”

The jury was shown body-worn video footage of the incident, and the complainant apologised for the “vile language” he used in it. He is at one point heard saying “Turn me around so I can spit in your face”, which he said was because the guards were “digging” the handcuffs into his wrists.

The defendants deny the charges and the trial is ongoing.