Not guilty verdict welcomed

National’s Police spokesman, Tony Ryall, is welcoming this afternoon’s verdict which has found Constable Keith Abbott not guilty of the murder of Steven Wallace.

“It’s an appalling situation that this case ever got this far and I hope now that Constable Abbott can have the privacy that he and his family deserve.

“What this case has done is raise a number of issues around the name suppression of police officers who are found not guilty of an offence, and the private prosecution of officers acting within their responsibilities.

“No one in the police would ever want to go through what Constable Abbott has gone through, which is only going to make it harder to get people to join the police force.

“This would be the right time for the Prime Minister to apologise to Constable Abbott and the New Zealand Police. After all, who can forget the hysteria whipped up around the case at the time by the Prime Minister’s foolish accusation of racism against the police.

“She should be embarrassed that her arrogance led her to slight Constable Abbott, and she should apologise,” says Mr Ryall.

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