Police corporal charged for wounding couple

A police corporal has been charged with seven criminal offences for allegedly beating up a couple. Thirty-two year old Mark August of the Queen Street Patrol branch is charged Wounding Fernando Searle in Christmas week. He is also accused of Threatening Searle at his garage on the Northern highway and for damaging a metal gate. But the assault did not end there. Searle’s common-law-wife, Tanya Pitts, also alleges that August assaulted her when he beat her with metal pipe and then threatened her on Boxing Day. August, who is still on duty, received a warning from Chief Magistrate Margaret McKenzie to stay away from the two complainants and to report to the Clerk of Court every Wednesday morning. If he fails to do so, his bail will be revoked and he will be remanded until the case is heard. Searle told police that he was repairing a vehicle for August when the car stereo and a DVD Player went missing. Searle claimed his arm was broken when August hit him with a wheel spanner after accusing him of stealing. August is due back in court on March thirtieth.