Brothers blue in front of cop shop

TWO burly brothers have been convicted of causing a public nuisance after starting a punch-up outside a North Queensland police station.

Ghemat Ryan Bennyfather and sibling Walter Frank Bennyfather appeared separately in the Ingham Magistrates Court on Thursday, and both pleaded guilty to their respective domestic violence-related public nuisance charges stemming from the incident on Monday, October 5.

Police prosecutor Len Brown said the two men began a verbal altercation outside the Ingham Police Station on Lannercost Street at 11.55am.

Police were immediately made aware of the fight, as a third man attempted to separate the pair.

Mr Brown said despite the arrival of police, the blue continued and Ghemat Bennyfather clocked his intoxicated brother with a punch and knocked him to the ground.

He said Ghemat then attempted to evade police by running across the street into the path of vehicles, causing at least one to brake suddenly to avoid a collision.

Mr Brown said the incident, involving physical violence, was at the higher end of public nuisance offending.

He said Ghemat had a significant criminal history, which included serious violent offending, but had kept his nose clean since 2015.

Mr Brown urged a suspended term of imprisonment for Ghemat and a fine for Walter, who had a limited criminal history.

Defence lawyer Nick Douglas said client Ghemat Bennyfather “effectively received as good as he got in relation to the fight with his brother”.

“There are a number of brothers within the family. They all get along. At times they do get cheeky with one another, this occasion is one of them,” he said.

“It’s quite unfortunate it happened exactly where it was – it wasn’t exactly the most well-placed time to have a fight outside a police station.”

Defence lawyer Margaret Crowther said client Walter Bennyfather ( pictured), a fulltime mill worker, had a good relationship with his brother and could not remember the incident because he was so drunk at the time.

She called for a fine. Magistrate Scott Luxton said the incident could be categorised as a “consensual fight”.

“You were both engaged in a physical fist fight, which would obviously offend or cause an affront to any member of the public in the vicinity of what took place,” he told Ghemat.

“I would also like to point out that there doesn’t seem to have been any pre-planning of where this offence took place, you and your brother brought yourself to the attention of police by your behaviour on that particular day, which is difficult to understand.”

Ghemat Bennyfather was fined $1000 and a conviction was recorded.

Walter Bennyfather was fined $400 and no conviction was recorded.

“If you continue to carry on like this and behave like an idiot, then you are going to get convictions recorded against you and penalties are going to be increased and I would think your job you’ve got now is probably at risk – it really is a time for you to pull your head in,” Mr Luxton told Walter.