One punch during street fight leaves man with a $1200 fine

ONE punch thrown during a street altercation in Toowoomba has cost a New South Wales man $1200.

Christopher Neale Ray had been in Toowoomba working on the Grand Central project in November last year, the city’s Magistrates Court heard.

He had been out with friends at The Cube Hotel when his group had engaged in some banter with another group.

When one of his friends took the hat from a member of the other group and left the venue, the groups followed, police prosecutor Leea Trewin said.

During a verbal altercation outside, one of Ray’s group had fallen over and he had thought his mate had been knocked down by the 40-year-old complainant man standing nearby.

Ray had punched that man once to the face, leaving him with a fractured eye socket, Senior Constable Trewin said.

Ray and a mate had then left the scene in a taxi, she said.

However, he had later voluntarily gone to police and made admissions.

Ray, 33, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm.

His solicitor Brad Skuse said his client entered any early plea to the charge which had been downgraded from a more serious charge.

His client had already suffered penalty in having to fly back to Toowoomba from his home in New South Wales to have the matter dealt with, he said.

Noting he had no criminal history at all, Magistrate Kay Ryan ordered the conviction not be recorded and fined Ray $1200.