‘MENACE TO SOCIETY’ AVOIDS JAIL

COURT HEARS OF GANG ATTACK

A THUG who took part in a bloody three-man gang attack on a young couple in central Geelong dodged jail by a “very small margin” yesterday. It was the second time this year former boxer Kristopher Primmer, 26, had avoided a jail term for an act of drunken latenight violence outside a Geelong nightclub. Described as a “menace to society” by his own lawyer last week, Primmer committed the offences six months apart in 2016, after spending time in jail in 2013 for violent offending. A magistrate last year sentenced him to jail for an affray and assault in June 2016, but the man avoided a prison term on appeal earlier this year. The second incident happened on Moorabool St at 3.30am a week before Christmas the same year, with the man pleading guilty to affray in the Geelong County Court last week. Judge Susan Cohen said Primmer’s status as a trained boxer made his unprovoked attack worse. But she said the man had performed well on the community corrections order after his jail sentence was overturned earlier this year, and that convinced her to give him another chance in the community. The court heard the 22year-old victims had just left Home House nightclub when they were attacked by Primmer, his cousin Joshua Primmer and friend Rhys Espig.

The men intimidated the woman while she was momentarily alone, waiting for her boyfriend to return from an ATM.

She was pushed, punched to the head and suffered a seizure while she was on the ground, and the male victim was attacked as soon as he arrived on the scene, the defendant punching, kicking and holding him in a headlock.

Both victims told court they’d suffered head injuries, endured nightmares and never intended to go out on Geelong’s night scene again.

While the co-offenders admitted their guilt last year and were put on community corrections orders by the Magistrates’ Court, Kristopher Primmer fought the charge, insisting it be heard in the higher jurisdiction.

“Clearly he was a menace to society. I think he’d be the first to admit that,” defence lawyer Paul McClure said.

“He got drunk when he was with his mates, and he hit people.”

Mr McClure’s submission that the man had made a 180-degree turnaround since that time helped keep him out of jail.

“By a very small margin, I have decided … a further community corrections order could be imposed for this offending,” the judge said.

Primmer will need to perform 200 hours of unpaid community work on the three-year CCO, and will be subjected to judicial monitoring.

A court order banning him from licensed venues in Geelong for the next two and a half years remains in place.