Man punched over son’s ‘slur’
A FORMER bikie punched a man in a Gold Coast Bunnings car park because he thought he had called his son a slur referring to intellectual impairment.
When Justice Kingi, 43, pleaded guilty on Monday in the Southport Magistrates Court to common assault, Magistrate Cameron McKenzie said he took into account stressors Kingi was under at the time.
“You should be commended for supporting your son so well,” Magistrate McKenzie said. “But you can’t be reacting the way you did.”
Kingi was previously a member of the Mongols motorcycle gang but had given up his membership.
He walked from court with a $500 fine. No conviction was recorded.
Prosecutor Chris Freeman told the told court Kingi and his wife were in the car park of the Arundel Bunnings on July 17 last year with three of their children. A car came close to hitting one of the children, who is autistic.
Kingi’s wife yelled to the driver: “Why don’t you watch where you are going?”
Mr Freeman said the driver replied: “Why don’t you hold his hand then?”
The court was told Kingi’s wife thought the driver had called the child a “r ..... ”.
The driver denied using the slur.
Mr Freeman said Kingi went into fighting stance and said “Come on, let’s go”.
Kingi punched the man in the head leaving him bruised.
Defence lawyer Michael Gatenby, of Gatenby Criminal Lawyers, said Kingi was of the “honest but mistaken belief” the man had used the slur.
“He accepts that the behaviour was inappropriate in all the circumstances,” he said.
“It still would have been a scary experience having one’s child almost being hit by the car. He had a reasonable belief that the complainant had said those words.”
Mr Gatenby said Kingi and his wife had since separated and that Kingi now was the full-time carer for their autistic son.