Sergeant meant no offence by pierced penis 'party trick'

He referred to it as his ''party trick'' - exposing his genital piercing, or opening a beer bottle with a bottle opener attached to it. And Australian police officer Sergeant Andrew Lawrance is certain no one was offended when he performed the trick to a small group of fellow officers and their wives at a Christmas party at Tommy's Chinese Restaurant in Yamba, egging him on. One woman, he told the Industrial Relations Commission yesterday, had asked to see the piercing after he talked about it.

One man, however, took offence: his ultimate boss, Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione, who wants Mr Lawrance gone from the force, saying he has lost confidence in him. He argued the offence was made worse by the fact that Mr Lawrance was one of the most senior officers at the party in December 2008. Mr Lawrance said there were no other patrons left at the Yamba restaurant when he went to the toilet to attach the bottle opener to the piercing, before exposing it two or three times to about six other people including his wife. The sergeant - who now works part-time in a bottle shop - had been involved in a similar incident at a hotel in Wanaaring, west of Bourke, more than three years earlier and had received counselling because of it. Since the latest incident he had received counselling and modified his alcohol intake, the court heard.


Photo from here.

But his lawyer, Patricia Lowson, asked the commission to order a review of his dismissal, arguing it was ''harsh''. ''Maybe it was also unreasonable. We don't want to press that case,'' she said. Mr Lawrance acknowledges now that his behaviour was ''inappropriate'', but said he did not intend to offend. ''I kicked myself [later] because something that was meant to be fun turned out to be a lot more serious than that.'' He said he believed the complaint came from someone who was not at the party and was ''not fond'' of him.

Mr Lawrance said he had performed his trick four times since 2002, always in ''closed company''. ''[Once was in 2005] when I was on the sergeants' course in Goulburn … We had a closed off section in the restaurant. Again it was late at night. Different fellows were getting up, telling jokes. Come my turn, I did the party trick.'' The case continues.