Jury acquits ‘shove’ accused

A CAIRNS jury took less than five minutes to acquit a man during a one-day trial over a Christmas dispute.

Benjamin Lloyd Stott had been enjoying a work Christmas party at the Red Beret in December 2016 when his father, Rick Stott, and David Zimmermann became involved in a heated argument.

Mr Stott saw the pair facing off and Mr Zimmermann point his finger in his father’s face as he spoke out about how his son had been treated while working for the same company as the duo.

Wanting to defend his father and “defuse” the situation”, Mr Stott shoved Mr Zimmermann. He crashed into chairs and a table before falling to the ground.

As a result, Mr Zimmermann pressed charges, which Mr Stott wasn’t aware of until he was spoken to by police in October last year. Yesterday in the Cairns District Court Mr Stott pleaded not guilty to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm.

While giving evidence Mr Zimmermann said he couldn’t recall if he’d pointed his finger in Mr Stott’s father’s face, but the court was told, “it escalated into something it shouldn’t have”, he said.

“There were comments coming from Rick and I was replying.

“It wasn’t a Christmas conversation.”

It took the jury just over an hour to hear all the evidence from three witnesses and including Mr Stott’s interview with police.

He told officers, “I probably threw him a bit too hard”. “I didn’t mean to hurt him.” He said he was “trying to defuse the situation” and “defend my dad”.

At the end of the day the jury agreed with defence barrister Peter Feeney’s submission.

“He did no more than react to a situation that was not of his making,” Mr Feeney said.

After he was acquitted Judge Dean Morzone offered some friendly advice.

“When drinking too much and involving yourself in heated events there are alternatives to avoid all of this trouble.”

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