Man ‘punched trots drivers over fixing claims’

A MAN’S anger over alleged race fixing at a Queensland harness racing track led to assaults on three drivers, a court has heard.

Grant James Gavin, 32, was fined $2000 at Southport Magistrates Court yesterday after pleading guilty to three counts of assaulting harness racing drivers at Albion Park Raceway in Brisbane last year.

The court heard Gavin was angered after incidents in races involving horses trained by his father, approaching rival drivers before striking them and verbally threatening them.

The first assault occurred on April 26, 2016, when Gavin approached a driver who had clashed with his father’s horse during a race.

“If you ever do it again it will be a bad idea,” Gavin told the man before shoving him.

On August 12 Gavin punched a driver and knocked his helmet off, and then on October 28, he punched another driver in the mouth and accused him of lying about an arranged result. The court heard two of three drivers assaulted by Gavin have since been charged with fixing races.

Gavin was charged in February after an investigation by the Queensland Racing Crime Squad.