Jury clears security guards of wrongdoing over incident at Superdrug store
They were accused of falsely imprisoning and assaulting a 15 year old boy in Chichester, West Sussex last year
A jury has found two security guards not guilty of false imprisonment and assault of a 15-year-old boy in a Superdrug store in Chichester.
Rangers Jake De-Geus, 30, from Chichester, West Sussex, and Edwin Hirst, 40, from Fareham, Hampshire, were accused of using unreasonable force while detaining the teenager during the incident in the Chichester shop on March 22 2023.
Both defendants, who were contracted to work for Chichester BID (Business Improvement District), were also accused of assault by beating.
The prosecution alleged that Mr De-Geus head-butted the teenager and they had both used unnecessary force to detain him, including the use of handcuffs.
But the jury cleared the defendants of both charges, having already acquitted Hirst of a charge of assault against another teenager on the direction of the judge.
The two defendants told the court that they had decided to stay close to the complainant and two friends after they entered the shop because they were making "silly" comments.
After the complainant placed a bottle of shampoo into the pocket of one of his friends, Mr De-Geus said he had asked him to leave the shop but he described how the teenager then became "angry and aggressive".
Mr Hirst told the court that he saw the complainant head-butt his colleague and it was at this point he stepped in to assist and detained the teenager using handcuffs until the police arrived.
Mr Hirst said that restraining him was done with "reasonable force" and in a "controlled manner" and added: "I informed him he had to calm down and co-operate or handcuffs will be applied."
He added: "He was still escalating, he was trying to kick out at me, he was still screaming, making threats. He was kicking his legs out and for my safety I put my leg over so he couldn't kick me."
Mr Hirst added that the complainant threatened him by saying: "Turn me around so I can spit in your face."
Mr Hirst said that while restraining the boy, the two friends became involved and the defendant said he was punched and kicked in the head.
The complainant told the court that he had only "jokingly" placed the shampoo in his friend's pocket and said that Mr De-Geus then "squared up to him" and became "really angry" before "he threw me into one of the aisles".
The court heard that the complainant's mother had posted a video of the incident on social media but the teenager said he was "pretty sure" that he had not told her the defendants had been "racist" towards him.
The complainant told the court that he had been banned from the Greggs store in Chichester for stealing some potato wedges and had also been banned from the city's Sports Direct shop.