Festive fight causes a fright
A FESTIVE fracas at a Grovedale Christmas party left one startled patron with a red nose — and not of the reindeer kind.
Bradley Baker-Brook, 26, was fined and convicted for an assault at the Grovedale Hotel on December 22 last year.
The Norlane man had been celebrating at the hotel as part of his workplace’s Christmas party.
By his own account, Baker-Brook had 20 glasses of beer or spirits before an altercation with another pub patron in the beer garden.
“At 4.30pm, the accused and the victim were in the beer garden when the accused punched the victim once to the side of the face with his left fist for no apparent reason,” Leading Senior Constable Geoff Lamb said yesterday.
“The victim turned and walked away from the area and noticed his nose was bleeding. Shortly after the assault, the accused was caught on CCTV footage in the bottle shop and his registration was obtained.
“The victim and the accused were not known to each other. The incident caused fear and concern from other patrons in the beer garden at the time.”
In a police interview on January 1, Baker-Brook denied punching the victim on the nose and claimed he had pushed him in the chest instead.
“In the interview, (BakerBrook) said: ‘the world’s gone soft, you should be able to push someone in the pub’,” the police prosecutor said.
Defence lawyer Michael Brugman said Baker-Brook later described his own conduct as a “dangerous over-reaction” and that there was no excuse for the altercation.
Magistrate Michael Coghlan fined Baker-Brook $750 with conviction.