A former police sergeant accused of inappropriately spraying a naked prisoner with capsicum foam has told a Canberra court it was his duty to stop the woman harming herself.
David Arthur Fearnside, 49, broke down as he told the ACT Supreme Court that he himself had from suffered depression and thought about committing suicide on more than one occasion.
Fearnside was the officer in charge at the City Watch-House on the evening of October 25, 2006, when he allegedly sprayed the woman with the chemical agent.
Yesterday, he told Justice Malcolm Gray that in 2002 he was removed from the mounted police, a job he loved, because he had depression.
Fearnside said he rang the superintendent of the city police station and requested his firearms be taken away for safekeeping.
''I had regressed into depression,'' he said.
''I could feel a depressive episode coming on and I didn't want those things hanging around when they could be safely stored in a police station.''
He told the jury that on an earlier occasion, he had turned his police pistol on himself.
''I had a very low point and I found myself with my Glock under my chin,'' he said.
The court heard Fearnside, now a self-employed farmer who lives near Murrumbateman, was placed in Canberra Hospital's psychiatric ward in the lead-up to his court appearance due to concerns about his mental health.
Fearnside, who joined the Australian Federal Police in 1986, said he resigned from the force two weeks after it was alleged he has misused the capsicum foam.
''I was thoroughly disgusted at the way the AFP treated me and carried out this investigation,'' he said.
He gave evidence that he sprayed the woman with the foam shortly after 10pm on the night she was in custody to stop her from harming herself.
The jury heard that the woman had expressed suicidal thoughts when Fearnside attempted to escort her from the paddy wagon.
''She said, 'F--- off, leave me alone, I'm going to kill myself, f--- off,''' the former policeman said.
''I was told she was highly affected by drugs and/or, alcohol, that she was violent and irrational.''
Fearnside told Justice Gray he placed the alleged victim in a padded cell out of concern for her welfare and the safety of his staff.
The court heard that when he entered her details into a police database, he learned she had attempted suicide on two previous occasions.
Fearnside said he twice visited the agitated prisoner's cell and asked her to calm down.
He said he sprayed her with capsicum foam after a colleague informed him that the woman was bashing her own head.
''I had a duty to spray [the woman] to stop her from self-harming.
''[Due to] the fact that she had alerts for self-harm in and out of custody, alerts from the ACT Mental Health crisis team, the fact that she spoke of self harm when I went to see her in the cell, and to stop her harming my constables.''
He told the court he had not been trained in dealing with prisoners housed in padded cells, those who were highly intoxicated or who appeared to have mental problems.
He said he had been schooled in using capsicum spray but had not received formal instruction on how to use capsicum foam.
The trial continues today.