Jail unlikely for cop on assault charges

A NSW police officer convicted of indecent assaults that he denies probably won't go to jail, a Sydney court has heard.

A suspended NSW police officer has been found guilty of indecently assaulting two women, but he is unlikely to go to jail.

Andrew Jones pleaded not guilty to five charges relating to the assaults, and was found guilty on Wednesday of two charges by Magistrate Michael Barko in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court.

In the first assault, at Adamstown near Newcastle in July 2010, Jones grasped, cupped and squeezed the breast of a woman as she was speaking to his four-year-old daughter.

"That act was an indecent act," Mr Barko said while handing down judgment on Wednesday.

About four years later Jones invited a woman to his house that he had met through an online dating site and they had a few quick kisses in the kitchen.

"The defendant pulled down the clothing of the complainant to reveal her right breast and in doing so he's looked down her clothing," Mr Barko said.

He then made a humming groan.

But it was for grabbing her buttocks without consent that he was convicted of the second charge.

The court heard that while doing so he sniffed up and down her neck.

During the three-day hearing, two senior female police gave evidence about being harassed by Jones in a similar way.

Jones, who represented himself, denied all the accusations.

It was in his nature "to be friendly and flirty" because he grew up around hippies, he told the court.

"They were very liberal people," he said.

Jones said the witnesses had "holes in the stories" but Mr Barko accepted the evidence of the five females as "honest, reliable, accurate and credible".

However it is unlikely Jones will end up behind bars.

"I don't intend to sentence you to prison," Mr Barko told Jones soon after convicting him.

A range of sentencing options, including community service, are being considered, the court heard.

Jones will return to the Downing Centre Local Court for sentence on April 24.


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Source: AAP


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