Two police officers from Sussex have been charged with assault after an incident involving a 93-year-old care home resident. The resident, suffering from dementia, allegedly threatened staff with a knife. The case will be heard in Southwark Crown Court in May.
Two Sussex Police officers have been charged with assault following an incident involving the use of a Taser, pepper spray, and a baton on a 93-year-old care home resident in St Leonards-on-Sea in June 2022. Officers Rachel Comotto, 34, and Stephen Smith, 51, pleaded not guilty to charges of actual bodily harm. The case, which involved the resident Donald Burgess, who had dementia and threatened staff with a knife, has been scheduled for hearing at Southwark Crown Court on 23 May. Burgess died three weeks after the incident, although investigations found no direct link between the police action and his death.
In another legal matter, four men, Phillip Adams, Patrick James, Jordan McCarthy, and Daniel Whereatt, also pleaded not guilty at Bristol Crown Court to charges of conspiring to inflict grievous bodily harm on NHS worker and musician Katungua Tjitendero, who sustained serious injuries in an attack in Bristol on 22 July 2020. Their trial is set to commence on 2 September, with expectations to last four weeks. The case has garnered significant attention due to the violent nature of the attack on Mr. Tjitendero, who was hit by a car on his way to a bus stop.
