22 Jun 2021

Criminologist concerned police tried to break someone down

From Midday Report, 12:18 pm on 22 June 2021

A criminologist is concerned about the discrepancies in the official accounts of how the police ended up shooting a man dead. 35-year-old Shargin Stephens was killed in 2016 after he smashed up an empty police car with a weed slasher. He had been subjected to 64 bail checks in the five weeks beforehand, including being repeatedly woken up in the middle of the night. And a digital imaging specialist says seven seconds are missing from police Taser-camera footage which captured the final moments before an officer shot dead a Rotorua man, raising questions about whether the video has been edited. An Auckland University criminologist and professor of indigenous studies, Tracey Mackintosh, of Ngai Tuhoe, told In-Depth reporter Guyon Espiner the late night bail checks could be seen as a direct attempt to break someone down, and she can see why his family want a full inquiry.