Police who violently strip-searched a handcuffed Aboriginal man have not been investigated criminally in an "alleged very serious instance of institutional failure," a barrister has argued.
This is despite an internal Australian Federal Police investigation finding one of the officers involved, Sergeant Scott Budd, had engaged in corrupt conduct and used excessive force.
Mr Budd is one of several police officers who, in March 2024, took Daniel into a cell at the watchhouse, pinned him against a wall and stripped him naked in an unlawful, violent strip search.
The Canberra Times understands Mr Budd is no longer employed by ACT Policing.
Last week, barrister Steven Boland told the court that CCTV footage of the assault was "several orders of magnitude more disturbing" than that from the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre in Darwin which prompted a royal commission in 2016.
Daniel, who is referred to using a pseudonym for legal reasons, screamed as he was kneed repeatedly and violently in the body, and punched in the head while restrained on the floor.
He was later charged with resisting and assaulting police. These charges were dropped with no evidence offered before a hearing could take place.
Daniel has since taken four officers and the Commonwealth of Australia to court in a civil suit.
The other officers named in the claim are Toby William Coutts, Alexander Patrick Whittle, and Bryce Leslie Vidler.
On Friday, June 5, the case was before Justice Andrew Muller for an application by Daniel's lawyers to release the footage to the Human Rights Commission, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and other organisations.
While CCTV of the incident has been admitted as evidence, the court has refused media access to the footage at this stage.
Mr Boland said there "seems to have been some form of almost total breakdown of proper decision making" within the Australian Federal Police and the ACT Office of the Director of Prosecutions.
He argued releasing the footage to public-facing organisations "may exert some form of public pressure" in having the matter criminally investigated.
"They are fully apprised of a very strong prosecution case caught on camera of a sustained assault of a person handcuffed in a police cell," Mr Boland argued.
"When you have this breakdown of decision making at the orthodox institutions ... there is nowhere else to go other than to other public-facing institutions which may in their own right be capable of making findings.
"The AFP are up to their neck and won't launch a criminal investigation into this."
In a statement, an ACT Policing spokesperson said they were "unable to comment on matters currently before the court, including any statements made by a plaintiff in a civil matter".
A spokesperson for the territory's prosecuting office said that "as an independent prosecuting authority, the DPP does not have investigative powers - questions about any potential investigation are therefore for ACT Policing".
On Friday, barrister Katrina Musgrove, representing the Commonwealth and three of the police officers, said releasing the footage too broadly was "almost like throwing a Hail Mary up or throwing some mud and hoping it sticks".
Ms Musgrove argued it also risked the video leaking to the press and others "which could impact a right to a fair trial".
She asked the judge to consider if "public pressure is sought to be exerted not for the administration of justice, but perhaps for the outcome of the plaintiff in these proceedings".
Justice Muller is set to deliver his decision at a later date.
