A security guard "squared up" to a 15-year-old boy before headbutting him, a court was told.

Ranger Jake De-Geus, who works for a Business Improvement District, stands accused of the false imprisonment of two teenagers during an incident in Superdrug, Chichester, alongside his colleague Edwin Hirst.

Hirst, 40, from Fareham, allegedly punched one of the boys in the testicles in the incident, and is also charged with assault.

The teenager, who cannot be identified as he is under the age of 18, told the Portsmouth Crown Court that he had gone into the shop on March 22, 2023, with two friends to buy some shampoo.

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He said that he noticed a ranger standing nearby to him and added: “I had never been told not to go into Superdrug or anything.”

He said that his friends were arguing with the two defendants and added: “I think it might have been something like ‘Why are you following us?'”

He added that the guards “weren’t physically angry but they looked annoyed” as his friend started to “wind them up”.

He said that he joined in the “joking” by pretending to put a shampoo bottle in his friend’s pocket and added: “It’s obvious I am not stealing, I am smiling in the ranger’s face as it happened.”

The complainant said that De-Geus, 30 from Chichester, then “squared up to him” and added: “He got really close to me, in my personal space, I look up and he is like really angry, gritting his teeth and then he grabbed my wrist and then started tussling, he threw me into one of the aisles.”

Jake De-Geus, 30Jake De-Geus, 30 (Image: PA)

He said that he ended up on the floor and saw the second guard approaching.

He continued: “I got put on my front and then they are both on me, their knees on my thighs and top of my back, along my back and on me.

“They got my hands behind my back and trying to get me in cuffs but I am squirming, I am in pain, just trying to get out.”

He said that De-Geus had told him: “I have been waiting for you to do something.”

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He added: “Once they have got me in cuffs, I started shouting and screaming, I got really angry.”

The complainant said that he felt he had not done anything to deserve being detained and added: “I wasn’t aggressive at all or anything like that.”

The complainant added that his mother had posted the video of the incident on the internet.

When asked by Berenice Mulvanny, representing De-Geus, the complainant, who is black, said that he was “pretty sure” he had not told his mother that the defendants had been “racist” towards him.

The complainant told the court that he had been banned from entering the Greggs and Sports Direct stores in Chichester and he had previously had a “joking” interaction with the defendants in the city’s Boots store.

Admitting having previously shoplifted, he said: “I have stolen potato wedges from Greggs. I am not proud of it, it’s a stupid thing to do obviously.”

He admitted that he refused to leave when the Superdrug security guards asked him to because he was “having fun” and admitted being “rude” but denied being “aggressive”.

He also denied being aggressive towards staff at Greggs and Sports Direct on different occasions and said he had been trying to “calm down” the situation at Sports Direct.

The complainant denied that he had headbutted De-Geus and said he did not remember the defendant saying: “I have just been assaulted, we are phoning the police.”

The jury was shown body-worn video footage of the incident, and the complainant apologised for the “vile language” he used in it.

He is at one point heard saying “Turn me around so I can spit in your face”, which he said was because the guards were “digging” the handcuffs into his wrists.

The court previously heard the two guards began following three teenagers who decided ‘wind up’ the security guards after entering the Superdrug store.

Paul Fairley, prosecuting, told the court “there was an almighty struggle, stock was knocked from the shelves as (the complainant) was swung by Mr De-Geus into the stand”.

The trial continues.