Assailant escapes jail time

AN INNISFAIL man has narrowly avoided going to jail for assaulting a security guard over a prior vendetta.

The Cairns District Court was told that in 2016 Peter Shelly assaulted the victim because he refused to shake his hand.

Shelly was charged with common assault, fined $750 and no conviction was recorded over the incident.

When then 24-year-old Shelly bumped into the victim on March 11 last year after being ejected from nightclub Nite Rumors, he couldn’t contain his anger.

The court was told he yelled “you cost me a lot of money” at the victim, who was working security at the door, before launching an attack.

Shelly grabbed his shirt, tearing it, and punched him in the head and face multiple times before others intervened.

Yesterday he pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm at Innisfail.

Defence barrister Michael Dalton tried to downplay the now 26-year-old’s actions as young and foolish.

“He accepts his recollection of the night was not good … his conduct was not great,” Mr Dalton said.

The court was told Shelly had been drunk, but that was no excuse for his behaviour.

“It’s not immature, it’s criminal,” Judge Dean Morzone said.

Shelly was working and had a good employment history. The court was told that at the time he had been dealing with emotional upheaval following a relationship breakdown. He has stayed out of trouble since.

Weighing up all factors, Judge Morzone sentenced Shelly to 15 months’ jail but chose to wholly suspend the term of imprisonment.