Met officer who slapped boy given community order

A Metropolitan Police officer convicted of assault for slapping a 16-year-old boy in the face has been given a community order.

PC Sevda Gonen, 33, was found guilty of two counts of assault by beating after slapping the boy multiple times in the face and carrying out an unlawful search of him on November 14 2023.

She was sentenced at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday to a 12-month community order including 150 hours of unpaid work.

PC Stuart Price, 35, was also found guilty in December of carrying out an unlawful search of the boy, amounting to assault by beating.

Gonen had denied the charges, claiming she was concerned for the boy's life during the journey on 13 November 2023.

The Met said Gonen had been suspended and Price "remains on restricted duties".

The officers were initially called after the boy was reported to have been aggressive at his home address and violent towards a mental health worker who was attempting to perform an assessment, the trial heard.

A camera inside a police vehicle captured conversation between the officers on their way to the boy's home, in which both officers could be heard using derogatory and explicit language to describe him.

Gonen added: "I've had enough of him."

Once at the address Price, from Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire, offered to drive the boy to hospital in a police van after his mother told officers she was concerned for her son's welfare.

Footage from within the police vehicle showed the boy lit a cigarette and started to smoke as the van was driven to hospital.

During the trial, Gonen said the boy's smoking made her "panic" as there were "huge safety risks", adding that she suffered from asthma and smoking in the vehicle was "criminal damage".

A search of the boy after the officers expressed concern he could have something in his pockets was found to be unlawful, as he had not been arrested.

The boy's eyes lowered and he became less responsive, with Price heard on the footage saying: "You all right, mate? We're just trying to help you, mate."

Price then said to Gonen: "Yeah, he's hot to touch."

In footage shown to the court, Gonen appeared to slap the boy's face several times while holding him by the hair, causing his eyes to flicker.

Discussing her actions, PC Gonen told the court: "Any time there was a concern for his life, I decided the best course of action was to gently slap him on his cheeks.

"I was never trying to hurt him, this was solely for his own safety."

District Judge Briony Clarke also ordered Gonen to pay £3,000 in costs, £250 in compensation and a £114 victim surcharge.

Meanwhile Price was ordered to pay a fine of £500, costs of £2,000, a victim surcharge of £200 and compensation of £100.

The Met made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) in December 2023, and the watchdog passed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service in April.

Following the trial, the IOPC said it was in discussions with the force regarding disciplinary proceedings.

The Met's Area Commander Hayley Sewart apologised to the victim and his family for "the distress and upset caused", adding Gonen's slapping of the boy was "deeply troubling" and "well below the standards and behaviour we expect from our officers".

"The decision to charge and subsequently convict the officers with assault because the search was deemed to be unlawful, however, raises important questions and we need to now take some time to understand the outcome and carefully consider the possible wider implications for officers and policing in general," she continued.

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