ON BAIL AFTER VILE ‘ATTACK’
A QUEENSLAND man accused of assaulting a 64-yearold woman and brutally stomping on her friend’s head in a fight over lift etiquette has been freed on bail.
Jesse William Leslie Donaghy, 21, a labourer from Currumbin, was in custody for more than two months before Supreme Court Justice Jean Dalton granted him bail on Wednesday.
Donaghy was freed on 23 charges, including the serious assault of 64-year-old Southport woman Ailene Patricia Treadaway and the assault of her friend Jeremy Rhys Hill, in what police allege was a brutal bashing triggered by a fight over who should get out of the lift first in a luxury building.
Donaghy allegedly punched, then “stomped” on Mr Hill’s head and kicked his head “several times” while Hill lay on the ground after he was set upon by Donaghy and his co-accused Mitchell Paul Wyles in the foyer of the Sundale building, Southport’s tallest residential tower, according to documents tendered to court.
Donaghy also shoved Mrs Treadaway during the wild brawl, “causing her to fall back into the elevator and its rail”, the Queensland Police Service court brief states.
Mr Hill told police that it began when Mrs Treadaway asked four men allegedly including Donaghy and Wyles who were entering a lift as she was trying to exit with Mr Hill, “Can we please get out first?”.
“Why don’t you get f---ed, you f---ing c---,” Wyles is alleged to have told the pair as he entered the lift, around 5.30pm on December 16.
Mr Hill said he then pushed Wyles away from Mrs Treadaway because he felt Wyles’ manner was dangerous, the brief states.
Wyles allegedly retaliated by punching Mr Hill in the head while they were in the elevator, then the brawl spilled out into the lobby.
The brawl was captured on CCTV, and did not end until security separated them, the court was told.
The incident occurred while Donaghy was on parole and serving a suspended sentence, the court heard.
His Queensland criminal history, which includes violence, nuisance-style offences and drugs offences was tendered in court.
Mrs Treadway suffered bruising on her elbow, upper chest, both wrists and her lips. Mr Hill had bruises on his head and cheeks and lips, police alleged. The case is due to returns to the Southport Magistrates Court on May 23.