A police officer has gone on trial accused of assaulting a 16-year-old youth and then abducting him from an Aberdeenshire village.
Ian Ivancic is alleged to have pushed Niall Corbett against a police van and repeatedly punched him on the head.
He is also accused of abducting the teenager by bundling him into the back of his police vehicle and then driving off.
The 45-year-old denies all the charges against him.
The Ellon-based community beat officer went on trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday.
Mr Corbett told Sheriff Annella Cowan Ivancic left him with “a bust lip and bloody nose” after punching him three times in the face “for no good reason”.
The youth said he had been at a house party in Balmedie earlier that evening when things started to “kick off”.
Police were called and when they arrived they found Mr Corbett and two of his female friends sitting on a wall in Chapelwell Drive.
The teenager told the court Ivancic approached the trio, swore at them and ordered them to move away from the area.
Mr Corbett said he refused to do so – and claimed Ivancic then grabbed him by the arm and marched him over to the police van.
He said the officer threw him against the back of the vehicle, before he was punched with an “uppercut” three times.
He said he was then put into the back of the van while blood was dripping from his nose and mouth and on to the floor of the vehicle.
The van then drove a few feet down the road before it stopped and he was released, he said.
Mr Corbett told the court he went straight to see his neighbour who was a nurse as he was “covered in blood”.
Thirty-seven-year-old Laura McKenzie, an agency nurse, also gave evidence yesterday and said Mr Corbett had turned up at her door around 11.30pm.
She said: “He was in a bit of a state. His face was covered in blood. He was trying to tell me what had happened. His nose was swollen and there was bruising on his eye.”
Ms McKenzie said it looked as if Mr Corbett had a broken nose – but he did not require medical treatment and there was no break.
During cross-examination, defence advocate Joe Cahill accused Mr Corbett of making up the whole story to get Ivancic into trouble.
Mr Cahill said: “This is nonsense. You have exaggerated everything to get this officer into trouble. It’s nonsense and lies.
“I have no doubt that something did happen that night but not the way you describe it. You have embellished these injuries and there is absolutely nothing to back them up.”
Special constable Robert Ballantyne, 67, also gave evidence yesterday.
The court heard he had been on duty with Ivancic at the time of the alleged incident on February 9 last year.
Mr Ballantyne, who was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in 2008, said that he had seen no evidence that Mr Corbett was assaulted.
He said the teenager had been waving his arms at Ivancic as the police constable ushered the youths up the street.
Mr Ballantyne said Ivancic led Mr Corbett into the back of the police van to give him “words of advice” before letting him go.
Fiscal depute Sandy Hutchison asked him if he had witnessed Ivancic punch the teenager.
He replied: “Absolutely not.”
When asked if the assault could have happened without his knowledge, he said: “it just didn’t happen.”
The special constable, who has 34 years of service, said Mr Corbett’s only visible injury was a small drop of blood on his bottom lip.
Mr Cahill asked Mr Ballantyne if he would have been able to stand by and watch a colleague assault a member of the public.
The officer said: “I couldn’t have done, it would be against everything I have done for the past 34 years.”
And Mr Ballantyne, who was driving the van on the night, said he had never been questioned over the alleged abduction.
He said: “I don’t remember the van being moved with him in it.”
The trial continues.