The officer was recorded by police vehicle cameras kicking and spitting on the teenager. Source / Flickr
By Dan Butler, NITV
A senior constable who served as a police officer for 11 years has been sentenced for kicking and spitting on an Indigenous teenager during an arrest.
Officer Christopher Borg had apprehended the teenager in Sydney's west in September last year in relation to a stolen vehicle.
The 16-year-old was already handcuffed and sitting in a gutter when Borg approached him with his hands in his pockets and kicked him in the face.
Video footage released by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions also shows Borg spitting on the child.
In a police fact sheet detailing the arrest, the teenage victim was noted to have been compliant before being assaulted by the officer.
In his defence, Borg's lawyers argued that the officer had been suffering from mental health issues.
NSW Local Court Magistrate Susan Horan sentenced Mr Borg to a ten-month intensive correction order. With ICOs served in the community, Mr Borg avoided jail time for the two assault charges.
However the former officer signalled his intention to appeal the sentence, and will appear in Downing Centre District Court for a hearing on July 15.
Police violence has been in the headlines recently, with one notorious incident causing the death of a 95-year-old woman after she was tasered by officers at her care home last week.
Another officer, Ryan Barlow, was found guilty on Monday of assaulting an Indigenous teenager in Sydney's Surry Hills in 2020.