MAN, 80, ATTACKED IN SPIT, SPAT SHOVEL WHACK:

Market stallholder fined over attack on aged shopper

A ROW over a Dutch clog led to a Geelong market stallholder spitting in the face of an 80year-old shopper and hitting him with a spade, the Geelong Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday.

Stallholder Peter Stokes argued he acted in self-defence when he spat and hit Andrew Juhasz while he was browsing the Showgrounds market on July 16 last year.

“He (Mr Juhasz) raised the clog and I was sure he was going to hit me in the head with it,” the Bell Post Hill man told the court.

Stokes said he knew spitting in Mr Juhasz’s face was “socially unacceptable” but did so to “shock him”.

“In the circumstances I was in it wasn’t an attempt at malice,” the 65-year-old said.

After hearing from five wit- nesses during a three-hour contested hearing, Magistrate Steven Raleigh said he did not accept Stokes’ versions of events.

“I do not believe he was acting in self-defence … he provoked the incident,” Mr Raleigh said of Stokes’s offending.

Stokes’s lawyer attempted to justify her client’s actions by telling the court he was pro- voked by Mr Juhasz, and that two strokes before the incident had left him vulnerable and weak on his left side.

Mr Juhasz told the court he was browsing the market stalls when Stokes assaulted him about noon.

“He ran towards me with the spade and hit me twice in my stomach,” Mr Juhasz said. “He then lifted his hand up and said ‘hit me’.”

Mr Juhasz had lightheartedly asked friend David De Wael if he wanted to buy the clog due to his Dutch heritage before the fight with Stokes took place.

The court heard a bystander broke up the fight and that Stokes repeatedly told Mr Juhasz to “f--k off” as he remained near his stall.

There was animosity between Stokes and Mr Juhasz, the court heard, after a rental agreement ended badly between Stokes and Mr Juhasz’s son in the 1990s.

At the time of the incident Mr Juhasz said he had not seen Stokes for more than 20 years.

Senior Constable Joseph Vallelonga told the court Stokes had “made admissions” about his offending during his police interview.

Stokes was found guilty of unlawful assault and assault with a weapon. He was convicted and fined $1500.