Dramatic footage showing a teenager being detained by two private security ‘rangers’ who are accused of assaulting him was played to a court today – as jurors heard there was ‘no justification’ for the force used.
Jake De-Geus, 30, and Edwin Hirst, 40, ‘kneeled’ on the 15-year-old boy as they try to handcuff the teen in a high street Superdrug store.
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court De-Geus had said ‘I’ve been waiting for you to do something like this’, as he detained him.
Jurors were shown shop CCTV footage, as well as body worn footage of the security guards and police officers who arrived at the store in Chichester, West Sussex, in March last year.
Talking through the clips at Portsmouth Crown Court, Hampshire, prosecutor Paul Fairley said there was ‘no justification’ for the private security guards to detain the schoolboy.
Jake De-Geus, 30, and Edwin Hirst, 40, ‘kneeled’ on the 15-year-old boy as they try to handcuff the teen in a high street Superdrug store
‘Town ranger’ De-Geus (pictured outside Portsmouth Crown Court) allegedly worked together with colleague Hirst allegedly to pin down the boy after following him and his friends into the shop where there had been a report of shoplifting
Hirst (pictured outside Portsmouth Crown Court), 40, is also accused of assault by beating having punched another teenager who tried to intervene in the testicles. He denies the charge
In the footage, the teen can be seen entering the store, in what he said was a trip to buy himself a bottle of Cantu shampoo.
However when the rangers began ‘following’ his friends around an aisle, they ended up together stood by the shampoos as the boys tried to ‘rile’ them up.
‘They started – they weren’t physically angry – but they were getting annoyed,’ the boy said of De-Geus and Hirst.
‘You could see [De-Geus] was annoyed at this point. I picked up a bottle of shampoo from the shelves.
‘I’m smiling in the ranger’s face and pretended to put it into [another teen’s] pocket.
‘I was trying to wind them up, but it’s completely obvious to anyone I’m not trying to steal this bottle of shampoo.
‘I decided I was going to rile the ranger up a bit because I was young and thought it was funny.
‘I’m trying to get a reaction off him – it was very clear that I’m joking, it’s obvious I’m not stealing.’
When asked if he had any intention of stealing, he insisted: ‘No, I was genuinely there to buy some shampoo.’
On the rest of the incident, he continued: ‘[De-Geus] got really close to me, in my personal space. He squared up to me, in my face.
‘I looked up and he just looked really angry, gritting his teeth and stuff. He grabbed my wrist, started tussling and I was thrown into one of the aisles. I was just trying to get away, not turn around and run but get him off me.’
The ‘almighty struggle’ in Chichester, West Sussex sparked outrage online at the time in March last year after a video of the incident went viral on social media (file image of the Superdrug store on East Street in Chichester)
The schoolboy said De-Geus told him ‘I’ve been waiting for you to do something like this’ as he tried to cuff him
Jurors were shown shop CCTV footage, as well as body worn footage of the security guards and police officers who arrived at the store in Chichester, West Sussex, in March last year
Asked if he had done anything to justify this response, he said: ‘No. I wasn’t aggressive at all – nothing like that.’
On the incident itself, he said he had been put onto his front.
‘They were both on me, knees on top of my back – just on me,’ he continued.
‘They got my hands behind my back, trying to get me in cuffs but I’m squirming.’
The boy said he was eventually restrained, as he gave up because it was ‘hurting’.
‘I got knees in the back of my thighs,’ he said, ‘I was in pain.’
‘They were kneeling on me and trying to wrench my hands.’
The schoolboy said De-Geus told him ‘I’ve been waiting for you to do something like this’ as he tried to cuff him.
‘I was shouting and screaming,’ he added.
‘Looking back now, embarrassing. That went on for a while. I was getting filmed by everyone, I was having a temper tantrum really.’
In cross examination, the teenager said he was ‘pretty sure’ he hadn’t told his mother the rangers had been ‘racist towards him’.
The court was shown body worn footage of the incident, for which the complainant apologised for the ‘vile language’ he used.
In it, he could be heard telling the rangers to ‘turn me around so I can spit in your face’.
De-Geus (pictured in October 2023), from Chichester, and Hirst, from Fareham, Hampshire, both deny charges of false imprisonment and assault by beating following the incident in Chichester, West Sussex
Hirst (pictured outside Portsmouth Crown Court this week) has also denied a charge of assault by beating of another teenager at the store
It was heard he had been banned from Greggs and Sports Direct and admitted he had ‘probably’ behaved badly at Boots in a previous incident.
He admitted he was ‘not proud’ of stealing potato wedges from Greggs on a previous occasion.
However, he denied being aggressive or head-butting De-Geus and that he did not remember him saying: ‘I have been assaulted, we are phoning the police.’
The two men were both working as ‘town rangers’ and employed by a private security firm called Blayde.
De-Geus, from Chichester, and Hirst, from Fareham, Hampshire, both deny charges of false imprisonment and assault by beating following the incident in Chichester, West Sussex.
Hirst has also denied a charge of assault by beating of another teenager at the store.
The week-long trial continues.