A former New Zealand police officer has been found guilty of 14 charges involving violence against three women known to him, including indecent assault, strangulation and blackmail.
The former constable was found guilty on all charges following a four-day trial in the Manukau District Court, the NZ Herald reported.
Judge Ngaroma Tahana delivered her reserved decision on Tuesday.
The man’s interim name suppression will remain in place until he is sentenced in October.
According to the Herald, the man was employed as a police officer at the time of the offending but is no longer with New Zealand Police.
The charges included assaults against three women as well as indecent assault, strangulation, blackmail and damaging one woman’s home.
One woman told Police that the former officer assaulted her while they were travelling in a vehicle, including lifting her skirt and grabbing her private parts.
She alleged he later punched her and, after they arrived at her home, strangled her while she was on the ground.
“All I could think is they’re going to find me dead in this room,” she said in a Police interview played to the court, according to the Herald.
The court also heard that the former officer blackmailed the woman using a recording of her having a panic attack and threatened to send it to her employer.
A second woman alleged he grabbed her by the shoulders, shook her and threw her down, while evidence concerning alleged threats against a third woman was also presented.
The former officer denied assaulting the women, although he admitted damaging the first woman’s home and acknowledged aggression and verbal abuse.
He is due to be sentenced in October.
