A woman who was allegedly unlawfully arrested and assaulted by NSW Police spat on an officer in reaction to being pepper-sprayed, a court has heard.
Senior Constable Mark Anthony Follington, 61, has pleaded not guilty to five charges including evidence tampering after the May 2019 arrest in the southwest Sydney suburb of Liverpool.
Follington is accused of twice assaulting Anya Bradford, who'd been asked for her ID in the gaming room of the Golden Fleece Hotel, and then falsely accusing her of assaulting him and resisting arrest.
"When he sprayed me, my whole body set on fire," Ms Bradford told magistrate Michael Crompton at the Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday.
The 25-year-old accepted defence barrister Ray Hood's assertion that spit from her mouth landed on an officer but said it wasn't deliberate.
"I was doing everything in my power to keep them away from me," Ms Bradford said.
"I spat out mace from my mouth and if hit someone it wasn't my fault. I wasn't given a chance to rinse my mouth out. It would be wrong of you to accuse me of spitting on someone given my ordeal."
Prosecutor Claire Robinson on Monday said Follington spoke to his junior partner the night of the arrest about the potential of the woman's phone data being downloaded.
Primarily based on Follington's account, Ms Bradford was charged and spent a night in custody.
When Follington and his partner walked into the pub and asked for identification, she told them she didn't have any and went towards the door, the court was told.
CCTV shows Follington grab her arm, leading to a scuffle in which the Crown alleges the officer shoved the woman's head into an ATM.
Ms Bradford was tasered twice by the junior officer as she ran out the door to the Liverpool Community Corrections Office building foyer.
Follington pulled Ms Bradford out of the building's lift, propelling her into the opposite wall, the court heard.
He then pushed his forearm under her jaw after she was handcuffed, Ms Robinson said on Monday.
The senior constable allegedly later authored a false narrative on the internal police database and in court documents that claimed Ms Bradford initiated contact in the pub's gaming room by pushing him and causing him to lose balance.
Senior police later reviewed the material in the case and advised Ms Bradford's charges be dismissed.
Follington faces charges of tampering with evidence with intent to mislead a judicial tribunal, doing an act intending to pervert the course of justice and modifying restricted data held in computer, and two counts of common assault.
Facing cross-examination on Tuesday, Ms Bradford said she feared for her life during the incident and that her body hurt "from head to toe".
