WA police get suspended term for tasering

Two West Australian policemen convicted of assaulting an Aboriginal man by repeatedly tasering him in a lock-up have been given suspended jail terms and fined.

CCTV footage showed the officers - Aaron Grant Strahan, 45, and Troy Gregory Tomlin, 34 - tasering Kevin John Spratt nine times in just over a minute after he refused to be strip-searched in the East Perth watch house in 2008.

Perth Magistrate Richard Bromfield ruled on Tuesday that Tomlin was guilty of all three charges he faced, while Strahan was guilty of three charges and not guilty on a fourth.

The magistrate said during sentencing on Wednesday that imprisonment was the only appropriate sentence.

"It was a gross error of judgment and a persistent and repetitive assault on a vulnerable victim in custody," he said.

Tomlin was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for six months, as well as a $3800 fine.

Strahan was also given an eight-month jail term, suspended for six months, and a $3250 fine.

"No reasonable person could view that footage without being disturbed," Magistrate Bromfield said.

He said claims from defence lawyer Karen Vernon that Mr Spratt could have been screaming in joy during the assault were "fanciful".

"He was in custody. He could not flee from either of you. He was in an extremely vulnerable position," he said.

Tomlin and Strahan were previously fined $1200 and $750, respectively, after an internal WA Police disciplinary hearing.

On Tuesday, Mr Spratt issued a statement saying it was a huge relief that justice had finally been delivered and he hoped the verdict made it less likely that others would suffer at the hands of police misusing their power.

"I am pleased that the court has confirmed that no-one is above the law, and a Taser should only be used as a last resort," he said.

Mr Spratt said an application for an ex-gratia compensation payment would soon be submitted to WA Attorney General Michael Mischin, and he would also consider civil proceedings against the officers.

The trial came about after WA's Corruption and Crime Commission recommended in an April 2012 report that the Director of Public Prosecutions consider laying charges against the pair.