Francisco Morris' lawyer, Antoinette Haughton-Cardenas, is convinced that her client was only arrested and charged because the police officers assumed he was gay.

The court heard that on the day in question, Morris was sitting in his parked car along Arcade Road in the Cross Roads area. The officers, reportedly, told him to move, but Haughton-Cardenas accused the officers of verbally assaulting her client by uttering several homophobic slurs.

She told the court that she was not aware of what her client was charged with, but the court later learnt that he had been charged with assaulting an officer, resisting arrest and using indecent language.

She condemned the officers involved in the matter and told the court, "They took him into custody because they wanted to find out if he was a kingfish or a sprat. He was harassed. It is not right to harass someone and use your power to do so. He was sitting in his car. He wasn't harassing anyone. He is being persecuted."

Resident Magistrate Glen Brown, however, attempted to justify the officers' behaviour and told Haughton-Cardenas that it was the their duty to investigate activity that they viewed as suspicious. He said the officers did nothing wrong.

The matter is to be mentioned in the petty sessions court on January 16.