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19 May 2013 20:59
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      Home > News > Law and Order

    Police justify tactics in Dotcom raid

    Witnesses from the Special Tactics Group dispute that Kim Dotcom was punched in the face when his mansion was raided.


    A member of the elite Special Tactics Group (STG) has told a court he didn't see anyone punch or kick Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom when he was arrested during the armed police raid on his Coatesville mansion, north of Auckland.

    The STG sergeant, whose name is suppressed, continued giving evidence at the High Court in Auckland on Wednesday.

    The court hearing into the January raid follows on from a ruling in late June that the search warrants used to carry out the raid were invalid.

    While being questioned by defence lawyer Paul Davison, the STG sergeant told the court that when Dotcom was found in the safe room, he was sitting behind a pillar with his legs crossed.

    He said he couldn't see Dotcom's hands and only a knee was visible.

    Dotcom was asked to show his hands, but the STG sergeant said he didn't comply with this instruction.

    He was pushed to the ground by police and put in a spread-eagle position.

    The STG sergeant said he didn't see Dotcom struck in the face. He said that if someone had struck him, he would have been able to see it.

    He also said he didn't see anyone kick or knee Dotcom.

    However, the STG sergeant did tell the court that one of the people involved in arresting Dotcom stood on his hand, but he did not believe this was deliberate.

    On Tuesday, Dotcom gave evidence that he was punched, kicked and pushed to the ground by police before his arrest.

    Another member of the STG who was involved in the raid took the witness stand on Wednesday afternoon.

    He also told the court no one punched Dotcom in the face.

    The court was earlier shown police and CCTV footage of the raid on the mansion.

    Dotcom and his three co-accused, Mathias Ortmann, Finn Batato and Bram Van der Kolk, face copyright, racketeering and money laundering charges in the US.

    An extradition hearing is scheduled for March next year.

    © 2013 NZN, NZCity


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