No ifs on butts: Judge
Court rejects wrangle over assault term
A DEBATE over a petrol bowser dust-up had Cairns lawyers arguing the finer points of an alleged “headbutt”.
William Beanham assaulted another motorist in front of a White Rock general store on Progress Rd when he perceived the other man had “cut in” to the line for the shop’s petrol pump.
“The defendant thought he had right of way at the bowser,” police prosecutor Natalie Keys told Cairns Magistrates Court on Friday.
The two men argued over who would be the first to fill his tank and things soon turned physical.
The court heard Beanham, already steamed up about losing his place in the queue, was even more riled up when a witness interjected to support his foe. “He headbutted the victim,” Ms Keys said.
At this point what would have been a straightforward sentence bogged down in the finer nuances of what constituted butting one’s cranium at high speed into another’s mug.
Doug McKinstry, defending, argued that the word “headbutt” did not appear in the court documents.
He said the facts stated, instead, that “the male hit the victim on the head with his own head; he propelled himself at the victim”.
“Their heads came together,” Mr McKinstry said.
He said the inadvertent knock of noggins was the result of his client “chesting up” to the other man with such force that he was launched into the face of his opponent’s glasses.
“It is my submission that he chested up to the victim and it is in doing the chest-up that he made contact,” Mr McKinstry said.
Not one to surrender the point, Ms Keys described the defence argument a dispute without a difference.
“He propelled his head forward,” she said.
“A witness said he headbutted the man; it was assault ... with the head used as a weapon.”
Beanham, 56, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm. Following the lengthy submissions Magistrate Alan Comans declared that “headbutt” was not a legal term.
“It is colloquial for a sudden cowardly blow ... the victim simply stood at his perception that he was first in line.”
He sentenced Beanham to three months in jail, suspended for 12 months and ordered he pay $1000 restitution.