Attacker says sorry

A HOBART man has apologised for being “stupid” and bashing an innocent young reveller who walked past him outside Parliament House.

The Supreme Court of Tasmania yesterday heard Neil Armstrong Langi Naufahu punched the victim to the head and kicked him twice and punched him to the head again after he fell. Naufahu said he was bigger than the victim, who hadn’t caused him any trouble.

A HOBART man admitted he was a “d...head” for bashing an innocent young reveller who walked past him outside Parliament House, leaving the victim writhing on the ground. In the early hours of May 5 this year, the young man walked towards Salamanca through the parliament car park, the Supreme Court of Tasmania heard yesterday. But on his way, 30-yearold Neil Armstrong Langi Naufahu approached him. Prosecutor Deanne Earley said the victim produced his wallet, with Naufahu taking it, dropping it, and putting it back inside the man’s back pocket. The youth tried to “pacify” Naufahu by hugging him, she said. But as the youth walked away, the Goodwood man punched him to the side of the head, with his victim collapsing to the ground. With the man on the ground, Naufahu kicked him twice and punched him to the head again. The victim rolled around on the ground for a while, trying to sit up, then eventually caught a bus home, Ms Earley continued. When the youth returned home, his mother called an ambulance and he spent the next 24 hours in hospital, suffering “severe concussion symptoms” for weeks. The incident was captured on Parliament House CCTV footage and Naufahu, who had “drunk heaps”, was intercepted by police the same night and detained until he was sober. Naufahu, who later pleaded guilty to assault, told police: “I’m a d...head, stupid, and I feel sorry for him.” Naufahu also said he was sorry, admitted he was bigger than the victim, and that the youth hadn’t been causing him any trouble before he attacked him. The victim read a victim impact statement to the court yesterday, saying he struggled to remember the incident but had nightmares of being at the scene. “I just find it hard to understand how someone could do this to another person who was of no threat,” he said. He said he suffered swelling and bruising to his face, a large bump on the back of his head and a cut to his lip. “I realise how fortunate I am after seeing what happened on the video footage.” Naufahu will be sentenced on December 9.