‘Yob’ to fix anger issues
Geelong man, 50, headbutts, pushes couple half his age
A GEELONG man assaulted a woman half his age after a boozy fight at a CBD nightclub
Damian Sladdin, 50, left St James Nightclub in July 2022 after getting into a physical fight.
Nearly an hour later, he came face-to-face with a young couple in Little Malop St and headbutted the man after taking offence to something he thought he had said.
When the female victim tried to intervene by telling Sladdin to leave, he pushed her, causing her to fall and hit her head on the pavement.
Nearby friends of Sladdin and the couple then became involved.
Sladdin pleaded guilty to affray and assault charges in Geelong Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
Just under an hour before the Little Malop St attack, a man who Sladdin was with got into a verbal argument with a stranger in the nightclub.
When the argument turned physical, police said Sladdin became involved and punched a man.
Magistrate John Bentley told him it was all “inexcusable behaviour”.
“It’s normally the young kids who are drunken yobs, but this time it’s (you). He headbutted a young person,” Mr Bentley said.
Sladdin’s lawyer, Adrian Paull, admitted his client assaulted a woman who was of “vastly different proportion to him”.
Mr Paull said Sladdin was out with colleagues for a work function when the assault occurred and his friend sustained broken ribs.
Mr Bentley told Mr Paull his client was a “big guy”.
“It must have been quite intimidating to these other people.”
Sladdin was placed on an adjourned undertaking to complete an anger management program and alcohol counselling.
He was not convicted.
“How old are you? Too old for nightclubs. They’re for young people, idiots, and this stuff happens,” Mr Bentley told Sladdin.