Former police officer Renee Hulls was the duty sergeant at Ballarat Police Station from 10.30pm on 14 January through to 7am on 15 January 2015, when retired detective Yvonne Berry was brought in for being drunk in a public place.

Ms Hulls, who resigned from Victoria Police in February 2018, was giving evidence in the County Court trial of Leading Senior Constable Nicole Munro, 48, who is charged with one count of assault, and Senior Constable Steven Repac, 29, who faces five assault charges. Repac and Munro have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

“She (Berry) was unbelievably strong. I feared for my life, there was just (another officer) and myself in the whole station,” Ms Hulls replied under cross-examination from defence barrister for Repac, Geoffrey Steward.

Ms Hulls testified how, on the night of January 14 and early hours of January 15, Ms Berry had been aggressive and had escaped her police cell, and that when Ms Hulls and another officer were attempting to return her to the cell, Ms Berry had taken her lanyard and ‘swipe’ card during a scuffle in the corridor.

She described how she and the other officer used capsicum foam in an effort to subdue Berry, but that it had little initial effect, but “eventually did slow her down.”

Another witness (name suppressed by the court) said, “it was appropriate to spray her … we couldn’t control the situation.”

More:

Different accounts from witnesses during trial of two police officers 

Retired detective says she was in a bad way after alleged police cell assault

No memory of biting and spitting on police: cell assault victim

Asked why the witness had used their foot to touch Ms Berry, when Ms Berry was shown in CCTV footage at 12.55am lying motionless on the cell floor, the witness said, “I was trying to get a response.”

The jury heard that Ms Berry had asked to see the duty sergeant, saying numerous times, “I shouldn’t be here.”

“Did you have any reason to believe that she was being detained unlawfully?” Mr Steward asked Ms Hulls, to which she said “No.”

Judge Paul Lacava and the jury watched several minutes of CCTV footage from that night at the Ballarat Police Station, showing Ms Berry pushing her way out of the cell and police attempts to return her there, the capsicum foam being sprayed, Ms Berry being dragged along the corridor and the removal of Ms Berry’s pants by a police officer who said she was looking for the lanyard and access card.

Judge Lacava asked if any of the other cells at the Ballarat Police Station were occupied that evening but was told the witness, “could not recall.”

During Tuesday’s proceedings, Ballarat paramedic Andrew Clancy took the stand and described how on the night of 14 January 2015, he and another paramedic had arrived at 11.12pm at the Brown Hill address, where a resident had taken an intoxicated Ms Berry into her home.

“It looked like she (Ms Berry) was handcuffed when we arrived, so we asked that she be unrestrained so we could take her into the ambulance,” Mr Clancy said.

He said Ms Berry was examined in the ambulance and it was “quite evident she was intoxicated” but that she was “relatively compliant and friendly”, but said “her demeanour changed when police came over.”

Mr Clancy said Ms Berry wanted her keys back “because she wanted to sleep in her car” and that the paramedics had offered several times to take her to hospital.

Asked by defence barrister Anne Hassan how many police were there, Mr Clancy said it was “three years and eight months ago” but he remembered “approximately five police officers” and had “a memory of her (Berry) being subdued on the ground.”

He recalled police suggesting “she go back to the police station, sober up and then she could have her keys back,” and that Ms Berry had declined.

The jury of six men and six women will hear from further witnesses when the County Court trial resumes on Wednesday.

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