A police drugs officer leaned into a car he had just stopped in Barnhill and punched a suspect in the nose, calling him a “drug-dealing scumbag”, a court has been told.
Detective Constable Russell Gillespie, 42, then knelt down beside convicted heroin dealer William Forbes and told him: “You’re going back to prison on a recall,” Mr Forbes told the court.
Gillespie is on trial before a jury at Dundee Sheriff Court, charged with eight assaults and three breaches of the peace, dating back to November 2009, in Dundee, Perth and Angus.
Mr Forbes told the court that, on September 8 2011, he was in the car driven by his girlfriend Jenny White while their friend Steven Rojek was the front passenger.
Three or four unmarked cars pulled up beside them and forced them to stop.
He said: “Police officers came running over and started opening the doors of the car, shouting: ‘police’.
“One of them said: ‘You drug-dealing scumbag’ and put his arm through the gap behind the front seat and punched me on the nose.”
Mr Forbes, 36, who admitted he was serving a seven-year sentence for dealing in heroin, said: “It was Russell Gillespie.
“I was handcuffed and pulled out of the car and put on the ground. I was covered in blood.”
Defence Advocate Shelagh McColl asked: “You know he’s a drugs squad officer because of your previous dealings?”
Mr Forbes replied: “Yes.”
Ms McColl asked: “This is simply your chance to get your revenge, isn’t it?”
The witness replied: “No.”
Gillespie denies that, on November 11 2009, at police HQ on Bell Street, Dundee, he swore at Lori Tosh and Stewart Chalmers and committed a breach of the peace.
He also denies that on March 5 2010, at Dun road, Angus, he assaulted Alastair Carrie, repeatedly struck him on the head and hand with a baton, assaultedChristopher McIntosh, punched him on the body and applied excessive pressure to handcuffs and breached the peace by swearing and uttering threats of violence at them.
He further denies that, on March 19 2010, at Perth Police Station, he assaulted David Brown and threw him to the ground. Gillespie also denies he assaulted David Stewart in a police car, near Perth Leisure Pool, on October 5 2010 by punching him.
He further denies that, on February 9 2011, at Provost Road in Dundee, he assaulted David Donald, kicking him in the groin; on May 31 2011 at Lochee High Street, assaulted Maurice Fraser by punching him on the head; and onSeptember 8 2011, at Abernethy Road, Dundee, assaulted William Forbes, placed his foot on his neck and punched him on the head, to his injury.
The trial before Sheriff Raymond McMenamin continues.