Money cause of brawl, court told

THE owner of a second-hand shop at Railton at the centre of a violent street brawl has admitted in court the fight was the result of a long-running dispute over money but denied it was linked to “dodgy drugs”.

Cody Titley, the son of one of the two men seriously injured in the fight, told the court he had spent 20 minutes holding his father’s badly injured head after the incident in which the opposing groups were both armed with baseball bats and other weapons.

Daniel Richard Jago and Adam Chris Onions are standing trial in the Supreme Court in Burnie after pleading not guilty to two counts of committing an unlawful act intended to cause bodily harm.

Two men required hospitalisation after the fight. An emergency department doctor told the jury their injuries included facial fractures that required surgery, a punctured lung and bruising on the brain.

Under cross examination, Mr Titley became agitated and asked Justice Robert Pearce for a break, saying he was “about to lose his s..t”.

On his return, he answered most questions with “I don’t remember”. He told the court his focus on the day was ensuring his partner and child were safe and he did not recall much about the fight until it was over.

Mr Titley denied a suggestion put to him he had dragged his injured father inside after the two accused left the scene with the prime purpose of removing a firearm he was carrying before police arrived.

“I had 20 minutes holding my dad’s head together. That is what I remember,” Mr Titley told the court.

Another witness who was at the shop told the court no-one was carrying a firearm. “There was no gun there that night. I swear on my kid’s life,” said Ashley Richelme, of Railton.