Mistaken identity leaves assaulted victim with $3500 dental bill

A MAN who assaulted a pokie machine player at a Toowoomba hotel discovered too late he had struck the wrong man.

Tyson James Dennison entered the pokie room of the Newtown Hotel about 9pm on April 21, walked up behind a man at the pokies and pushed him forward.

The man’s mouth struck the machine he was playing and he fell to the floor with an injured mouth, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

It was then Dennison realised he had struck a stranger and then turned on the patron who he had been looking for and harassed him, police prosecutor Tahlia Boettcher told the court.

The incident left the victim with a $3500 dental bill.

Police caught up with the 27-year-old two days later but he declined an interview, she said.

Dennison pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm and to public nuisance inside a licensed venue.

His solicitor Joe Millican said he had only been handed the compensation figure as he sat with his client at the bar table and asked Magistrate Damien Carroll not to impose any compensation order.

However, Mr Carroll said he would not be doing that and said he would adjourn the matter so police could provide a more detailed submission as to the dental costs of the victim.

Mr Carroll set aside Dennison’s pleas of guilty and adjourned the case for mention back in the same court on October 11 when the matter was to be reheard from the start of proceedings.