COWARD KICKS, RUNS, TEXTS
EXCLUSIVE: Thug gets jail time after brutal, unprovoked attack knocked out stranger in CBD
A GEELONG thug who kicked a stranger in the head while he was sitting on the footpath outside a nightclub was sentenced to jail yesterday. A witness said Joshua Hawkins-Page, a 22-year-old father, ran towards the victim and “power kicked” him.
He then ran from the scene and later texted a friend, saying he’d knocked someone out.
A GEELONG man was jailed yesterday for one of the most cowardly, brutal and unprovoked attacks imaginable in the city, but was released to appeal his sentence.
Joshua Hawkins-Page, 22, did not know the unsuspecting man he “power kicked” in the face at the intersection of Brougham and Moorabool streets shortly after 1.30am on August 14.
Geelong Magistrates’ Court heard victim Simon Burchell was sitting on the footpath outside Lamby’s Tavern with his back against a wall when Hawkins-Page got out of a taxi and attacked.
“I observed the passenger from the taxi start jogging toward the guy in the footpath, building up a bit of speed and then delivered a power kick with his right foot to this guy’s face. The guy appeared to look up at the last second but it was too late for him to avoid the blow,” a witness told police.
The kick cracked the victim’s jaw, pushed his teeth in, cut his lip and rammed his head into the wall, fracturing his skull and making his brain bleed.
Pulling his hoodie over his head, Hawkins-Page ran immediately from the scene. He confessed his crime to a friend later that day via text messages, but made no effort to report his actions to police. “Kicked someone in the head”, “he was knocked out,” he said in the messages.
Discussing whether he might get away with the crime, the defendant seemingly lamented his arrest was inevitable, conceding “I’ll be on camera”.
The court heard Geelong’s security camera network was used to identify the thug. He was arrested at a Norlane home on August 22, and pleaded guilty to a count of recklessly causing serious injury yesterday.
Hawkins-Page showed little emotion each time the victim’s pain and suffering were discussed in court, but cried when his lawyer, Sarah Lenthall, defended him, and later when magistrate Ann McGarvie confirmed he was bound for jail. “He is disgusted with his conduct that night,” Ms Lenthall said.
She quoted a psychologist, who found the defendant was “riddled with regret, shame and remorse”.
The court heard Mr Burchell had no memory from the time he sat down on the footpath until he woke in hospital. He described his physical and emotional pain, and told the court he feared his brain injuries might have lasting consequences.
The court was told the two men, both aged 22, did not know each other, but Hawkins-Page mistakenly thought Mr Burchell was a man he had an argument with at a different nightspot that night.
Police prosecutor Senior Constable Jacki Davis said that “puzzling” motive was “misguided”, questioning its relevance in the context of an attack that “meets the definition of brutal”.
She pointed out Mr Burchell had no chance to correct the mistaken identity, and did not see his attacker coming, while Hawkins-Page laid low for eight days and only admitted his crime when police caught him
Given the public demand for a crackdown on one-punch attacks, she called on Ms McGarvie to jail the first-time offender and father of one.
Ms McGarvie agreed the offender was remorseful, but found the “unprovoked and sickening attack” deserved both an immediate jail term and a CCO.
“To do that to anyone any time for any reason is cowardly and despicable,” the magistrate said.
Hawkins-Page, a warehouse worker for Cotton On, was given a 10-month jail term, to be followed by an 18-month CCO. However, he was released from custody later yesterday after declaring he would appeal the sentence.
Ms McGarvie also banned the man from attending any licensed venue in Victoria for two years, and ordered he pay $2300 compensation to the victim.