A police officer accused of kicking and stomping on a man after a botched armed robbery in a Melbourne pharmacy has told a court his life was being threatened.
James Vassilopoulos faced the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Monday, accused by corruption investigators of assaulting Jeamy Olaa in 2016.
Graphic security footage showed Mr Vassilopoulos allegedly punching, kicking and then stomping on Olaa, who came to Australia as a refugee from Sudan.
His barrister Geoffrey Steward read parts of the suspended senior constable's statement to the court, where he described being threatened.
"I said, 'Stop fighting mate, just breathe and relax.' He said, 'Kill me or I kill you'," Mr Vassilopoulos said.
But the court heard Olaa, who had been doused with capsicum spray, told officers he thought he was dying.
"I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I can't breathe," he said, according to the statements.
Police officers had been called to a chemist on High Street in Preston, which Olaa held up with two pairs of scissors.
Olaa, who was in the grips of an acute psychotic episode at the time, has since been convicted of armed robbery.
Lawyers for Mr Vassilopoulos told the court that Olaa was highly distressed during the arrest, and that their client had spoken to him "almost reassuringly".
"You're okay, you can breathe, you're not going to die," the court heard Mr Vassilopoulos said.
Officer saw colleague step on arrested man's back, court told
The court heard the evidence of Sergeant Tim Kohler, who was called to the scene and helped arrest the man.
He said that Olaa was "incredibly strong" and may have bitten Mr Vassilopoulos.
"He [Olaa] was doing everything he could not to get cuffed," Sergeant Kohler said.
"From memory I just recall his head going towards [Vassilopoulos].
"There was a lot of conversation afterwards about him being bit."
Under cross-examination from the accused man's lawyer, Sergeant Kohler said he saw Mr Vassilopoulos "step" on the man's back.
"I didn't see the kick," Sergeant Kohler said.
But he told the court he remembered telling the other officers that the whole incident was caught on security footage
"I remember actually saying to the guys, 'It's all on footage'," he said.
Later, Olaa told police he was not happy with how he was treated by police.
"They punched me too many times," he told an officer who conducted his exit interview.
