KNOCK OUT THE COWARDS
Nightclub bosses tell courts to get tougher on grubs
GOLD Coast nightclub bosses have called for the justice system to inflict tougher penalties on coward punchers after this man allegedly knocked a woman to the ground and continued to assault her while she lay unconscious in Surfers Paradise on Sunday morning. Police say the 27-year-old had to be dragged off the woman, who refused to co-operate with officers. In a separate case, Kiwi thug Caleb Maraku walked from court last month despite pleading guilty to coward punching a teenager at Schoolies. Surfers Paradise Licensed Venues Association president Tim Martin says he will write to the State Government begging for “these guys to be punished properly”.
GOLD Coast nightclub bosses want tough sentencing for party precinct thuggery after the latest shocker where a woman was knocked out.
A Kiwi male allegedly threw the woman to the ground and continued assaulting her while she lay unconscious in central Surfers Paradise at 2am on Sunday.
Police claim members of the public had to drag the 27-year-old off the woman, who refused to co-operate with officers.
Hours later, the man updated his social media to say he was in a relationship with the 25-year-old woman.
Surfers Paradise Licensed Venues Association president Tim Martin said he was stunned at what he feels are light sentences for one-punch attackers such as Kiwi Caleb Maraku who decked a teenager in Surfers during Schoolies.
Maraku laughed and filmed himself with the media outside Southport Magistrates Court last month after being given a 12-month probation and no conviction for the coward punch.
He is facing deportation after being arrested by the Australian Border Force on Friday for failing a character test.
Mr Martin plans to lobby State Government for tougher punishment for party precinct violence: “Let’s punish these guys properly.”
Maraku’s pending deportation was a “good start” Mr Martin said, but added he was not surprised he infamously laughed after sentencing because “it was a joke”.
“We have done our part implementing the ID scanners, we’ve fallen in line in terms of our businesses.
“We need sentences to support our business and support the community,” Mr Martin said.
“We will be asking some questions of the justice system about why we are not punishing these people.
“The guy has done some serious damage to another human, was laughing about it and walked away with a suspended sentence and no jail time.”
In the Sunday incident, witnesses told police of a verbal argument between the couple on the corner of Cavill and Orchid avenues, a police statement said.
“It is alleged during the argument the man has thrown the woman to the ground, striking her head on the roadway,” the statement said.
Police allege the “woman was further assaulted while on the ground. Members of the public intervened.”
Photos show the man sitting in the gutter with his head in his hands while police and a member of the public attend to the woman laid out on the road.
She suffered a head injury and was taken in a stable condition via ambulance to Gold Coast University Hospital.
Due to the seriousness of the incident, police said they had issued a domestic violence application.
“Investigations continue to look into other domestic violence-related offences,” the police statement said.
Police said the matter would “proceed to the Southport Domestic and Family Violence Court”.
Veteran criminal lawyer Bill Potts said he would be concerned about any move toward mandatory sentencing for coward punchers that put courts in a “straitjacket”.
“Courts need to have some discretion, the response has to be more nuanced. If you think you are going to scare people with penalties, drunk young men are not thinking about that.”
Mr Potts said in light of Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton going on the offensive to deport noncitizens he felt failed character tests, the alleged perpetrator in the latest party precinct incident should be feeling nervous: “He may be deported”.