The Magistrate has found our 27 year old client ‘not guilty’ of Affray and Common Assault after a full-day hearing in Downing Centre Local Court.
Our client is a serving officer of the Australian Defence Force and was a member of the Special Forces when he attended the Fox Hole Hotel, Sydney with his brother on a Saturday night and consumed several alcoholic drinks.
The pair later left the Hotel and attempted to gain entry into The Office Hotel, but were refused.
It is alleged that our client then told the Security Officer to ‘fuck off’ and pushed him in the chest, causing him to step backwards. The Security Officer allegedly said ‘go back across the road where you came from’.
It is alleged that the pair then got into a fight with a number of other males, during which our client punched one of the males in the temple causing him to fall to the ground and lose consciousness.
Our client was identified as the assailant by three people – the alleged victim, the Hotel Manager and a Security officer. All gave statements to police and identified our client from CCTV footage and photoboards.
Arresting police then made a telephone call to the Australian Defence Force, which resulted in our client being demoted.
All prosecution witnesses attended court hearing and gave evidence that they were certain our client was responsible.
However, through careful analysis of additional CCTV footage and thorough preparation our defence team was able to persuade the Magistrate that the prosecution could not rebut the possibility that our client was acting in reasonable defence of his brother; which is called ‘third party self-defence’.
All charges were therefore dismissed and our client will now be seeking reinstatement to the Special Forces.