A Supreme Court judge has quashed an assault conviction for a former South Australian police officer because a magistrate made several mistakes stemming from an audio recording of the decade-old incident.
In March 2022, police officer Andrew Allan Jaunay was handed a three-month fully suspended sentence over the 2013 assault of then-17-year-old Matthew Odgers at Whyalla.
After a trial, the 44-year-old was found guilty of striking the teenager in the face with an open palm after becoming angry about his attitude towards police.
The key piece of evidence during the trial was an audio recording captured by Mr Odgers of the interaction between him, his mother and the police officers shortly after the alleged assault.
Magistrate Ben Sale found the police officer admitted to the assault in the recording.
But Mr Jaunay appealed both his conviction and sentence in the Supreme Court.
Today, Justice Laura Stein granted the appeal against his conviction, and ordered he face a new trial before a different magistrate.
She found Magistrate Sale made several mistakes when interpreting phrases from the audio recording.
"The magistrate erred in finding beyond a reasonable doubt that the words 'ya fairy mates' were spoken in the recording and rejecting the possibility any other words were spoken," Justice Stein said.
She said the prosecution ran its case that the phrase "belted you up" could be heard in the recording, but Magistrate Sale found the words were "belted you one".
"That factual finding, along with the magistrate's personal understanding of the meaning of the words found to be uttered, were significant in his reasonings of guilt," Justice Stein said.
She said the magistrate should have given the prosecution and defence counsel an opportunity to make further submissions on the wording of the phrase.
Justice Stein also found Magistrate Sale used his personal understanding of the phrase "belted you one" to mean a blow with the hand.
She said Mr Jaunay was not given "procedural fairness" and therefore allowed the appeal.
