A Police officer accused of kicking a young father with "tremendous force in the face" told a court yesterday he did no such thing and was himself assaulted by the complainant.

P.c. Richard Geraghty said Troy Smith threatened him with a stick, poked him in the eye and threw a rock at him after he tried to arrest him for violent behaviour.

The officer also described how Smith, 28, later called him a "white c***" and a "slave beater" after he checked on him at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

He claimed Smith told another officer while in hospital that his facial injuries were caused by his cousin, Jari Fischbacher, before Police arrived on the scene — and that the admission was filmed on the officer's BlackBerry.

Smith's trial at Magistrates' Court for assaulting P.c. Geraghty and causing him bodily harm, resisting arrest and possessing an offensive weapon — a two-foot croquet stick — began yesterday. He denies the charges but admits using offensive words.

Earlier this year, father-of-one Smith accused the Policeman of beating him so badly he was left with a broken nose, broken facial bones and a sprained jaw.

Police investigated the complaint and found insufficient evidence to prosecute P.c. Geraghty.

The officer's identity was not made public until yesterday's court hearing, when he appeared as a prosecution witness.

He told Crown counsel Nicole Smith he attended Smith's home in Plaice's Point Road, Pembroke, with partner P.c. Robin Evans at about 2.30 a.m. on July 4, due to a violent domestic dispute.

Smith was standing with a stick in his hand as they pulled up in their patrol car, he said. Several others were there and a fight seemed to be going on.

P.c. Geraghty described Smith as "kind of agitated" and said when he got out of the car and ordered him to drop his weapon, the defendant immediately "turned around and then came advancing very quickly towards me".

The officer told the court Smith swung the stick at him and said: "Get the f*** away from me, f*** off".

"I felt very threatened for myself and my partner," he said, adding that he used captor spray to try to subdue Smith after he swung the stick at a female, who it later became clear was the defendant's mother.

Smith "very forcefully" threw the stick at him but he jumped out of the way and saw it land on the ground, before hearing a female voice saying she had been hit.

He described Smith picking up what appeared to be a rock and throwing it at his shin and then kicking out at him, after which P.c. Geraghty struck him on the leg with his metal baton. Later, he used the baton to strike Smith's arm.

Under cross-examination by Smith's lawyer, Graveney Bannister, the officer denied flying into a rage and beating up the defendant. "That didn't happen," he said, adding that he followed all his training and didn't breach protocols.

He also refuted as "ludicrous" Mr. Bannister's claim that he attended KEMH with the stick and "taunted" Smith.

P.c. Evans gave evidence, describing how he was fearful for his own and his partner's safety. He said he twice fired his Taser device to try to subdue Smith and denied that his partner used excessive force.

The trial was adjourned until next month when Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo will decide whether the BlackBerry footage of Smith is admissible.

The Police Complaints Authority will consider an official grievance from Smith once the criminal proceedings end.