Police officer put pressure on woman to withdraw rape claim
A POLICE officer put pressure on a vulnerable woman to withdraw her complaint of rape against another party in order to protect his career, the Royal Court concluded yesterday.
Aaron John Cusack, 26, pictured right in 2017, had denied carrying out a series of acts intended to pervert the course of justice.
At the end of a trial that had lasted all week, the court found him guilty of the offence with a unanimous decision.
It was the prosecution case that Cusack, who lost his job as a result of his offending, persuaded the woman to drop her complaint in order to thwart investigation of himself.
The woman had alleged to police that he had sent an indecent image of himself to her.
He had already admitted failing to provide police with the pin codes to his phone, an iPad and a laptop computer, after a notice was served compelling him to do so.
Four police officers gave evidence for the prosecution, while Cusack was the only defence witness.
The court heard how he had examined social media contact on the woman’s phone prior to the forensic examination of it which went against police procedures.
The woman was listed on the police computer system as requiring an appropriate adult yet Cusack had gone to her home and questioned her about her rape allegation alone.
In 2019 the woman had sent him a topless photograph of herself. Cusack told the court he declared this to colleagues at the time, though the police public protection unit had no record of it. He was also in contact with the woman two months before she made her complaint, which had also gone undeclared.
A probation report was ordered ahead of sentencing. He will be sentenced in September for all four matters and his conditional bail was extended until then.
Following yesterday’s decision, Head of Law Enforcement Chief Officer Ruari Hardy confirmed Cusack had been suspended in October after he was arrested and was subsequently dismissed.
‘This conduct undermines the trust and confidence of our community in an organisation that is here to protect and serve and keep the most vulnerable safe,’ he said.
‘As shown in this case, Cusack did not do this and did not provide the level of service we should be delivering to members of the public – for that I publicly apologise. The behaviours of this specific individual do not reflect the values and high standards that the community rightly demands from us.’
He said this sort of behaviour undermined the credibility and hard work of serving officers, and added he was deeply disappointed with Cusack’s actions.
