Old Portsmouth man guilty of spitting at police officers after being pulled over in Drayton, Portsmouth
A MAN has been found guilty of spitting at police officers when he was pulled over for having a damaged tyre.
Jurors convicted Worthmore Munyeza, 36, after a trial at Portsmouth Crown Court that heard he was stopped in a Ford Mondeo on July 12 last year in the middle of the pandemic in Havant Road, Drayton.
The court heard PC Phil Robertson and PC Robin Tompkins stopped Munyeza, who admitted having drunk one alcoholic drink, and attempted to breathalyse him.
Munyeza started screaming and shouting and was being detained against a van when he said ‘I can’t breathe’ claiming he was being pushed against the vehicle.
It’s then that PC Roberston tells him ‘do not spit at us,’ calling the defendant ‘dirty’.
As he’s taken into the van PC Tompkins added: ‘He got me in the face.’
The judge, Recorder Adam Feest QC, adjourned for sentence on Friday but warned the defendant there is a ‘real risk of a custodial sentence’ due to the ‘seriousness’ of the offences.
Addressing jurors, he added: ‘You may have thought the officers were behaving incredibly properly so far as Mr Munyeza was concerned, and were patient beyond what might have otherwise been expected.
‘That’s my view, my view doesn’t matter.’
As reported, Munyeza alleged racism in the way he was handled but PC Robertson told jurors: ‘A person is a person to me. We are just two human beings.’
Munyeza, of Blount Road, Old Portsmouth, denied two counts of common assault of an emergency worker.
He was convicted of those offences but cleared of criminal damage to a police van.
Munyeza denies failing to provide a specimen, and he will face a trial in the magistrates’ court in due course.
He was bailed ahead of of sentencing for the assaults on November 19 at Bournemouth Crown Court.
The court heard he has a conviction for drink-driving in 2003, driving while banned in 2004 and in 2006.
In 2006 he was also convicted of forging a licence with intent to deceive, and in 2010 was convicted of an assault in Scotland.