Two officers named as part of the search have refuted the teenager’s account at an inquiry in Sydney

This article is more than 9 months old

This article is more than 9 months old

A police officer involved in searching a boy at an underage music festival in Sydney says he has “no memory” of the teenager being asked to “show me your gooch”, and that it “didn’t happen”.

The 15-year-old claims he “froze” when he was asked to drop his pants during a strip-search at Sydney Olympic Park in February.

The teenager says an officer told him to “hold your dick and lift your balls up and show me your gooch”.

But a senior constable named on an official form as one of two officers involved in the search cannot remember performing any strip-searches at the Lost City festival.

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He told a hearing of the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) on Wednesday that he would recall if such language was used. The LECC is in the middle of a week of public hearings into the strip-search of “several young people” at the festival, an under-18s event held in Sydney.

“I have no memory of that happening,” the senior constable said.

The police officer of six years – who cannot be named – said he was familiar with the term “gooch” and may have used it in his school days but would not have done so in his time with New South Wales police.

A gooch is a slang term for the perineum, or space between the testicles and anus.

Asked if having no memory of the event meant it did not happen, or that it could have happened but he had forgotten, he said: “I would say that it didn’t happen.”

The second officer named on the form for the search of the boy said he “definitely” would not have used the term “gooch” and that he had only been involved in one general search that day, as opposed to a strip-search.

“To be honest I don’t know what it (gooch) actually means,” he told the inquiry.

The first officer’s handwriting appears on a form in relation to the teenager which notes that a general search was carried out.

He admitted it was an “error” to circle “no” for signs of intoxication despite noting on the paperwork that the teen had enlarged pupils and was shaking. But he said he would not have made those notes if they were not true.

The teenager – on whom no drugs were found – has told the commission in a statement he was confused as to why he was stopped after a drug dog sniffed him but did not sit down, which he thought needed to happen to indicate a drug detection.

The boy said he was so nervous he was shaking.

The officer on Wednesday accepted the teen’s pupils could have become larger when he moved from the bright light outside to the darkened search area.

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The LECC chief commissioner, Michael Adams QC, said it was “not rocket science” to suggest the shaking could have been due to nerves rather than drug-taking.

Adams questioned why a teenage boy would be allowed to go back into a festival “awash with drugs” if police had recorded on a form that he appeared to be affected by drugs.

“What about your duty of care?” Adams asked.

Questioned as to whether he thought that was a responsible thing to do, the officer replied: “That looks to be a mistake on my part.”

He agreed when Adams suggested further training for officers might be required on strip-searching young people and on detecting the signs for when a person might have taken MDMA.

The party drug was found in nine searches carried out at the festival which was attended by some 10,000 young people.

The hearing is considering the 15-year-old boy’s case alongside two other teenagers, as well as the lawfulness and reasonableness of strip-search practices generally.

The inquiry heard on Monday a 16-year-old boy, who was searched alone after he was found hiding a bum bag without any drugs inside, was told to “lift up his balls” and to “squat and cough” during the search.

During a third search, a 17-year-old says he was told to “grab his penis and to lift it up” before a male officer allegedly “inserted his hands inside” his underwear, “and made contact with his testicles”.