By PRATHAMESH DESHPANDE
A “rush of blood” one night last year saw an Esperance man convicted of assaulting a 17-year-old boy after a four-day trial. However the magistrate said the offence did not constitute “vigilante behaviour” when he handed down the sentence on Monday.
Paul David Mack, 53, was found guilty of unlawful assault at the Esperance Magistrates Court on April 3.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, prosecutor Michael Crook said the incident had caused the victim concussion, fear, anxiety, panic attacks, and nightmares. He said the victim could not attend senior school or go to Perth for training for basketball following the incident. Mr Crook said the victim was now completing his apprenticeship.
Defence lawyer Johnson Kitto said: “the reality is that the victim was playing basketball two weeks later”, while mentioning CCTV footage which confirmed the same.
“To the extent that the assault was unlawful, it was relatively non-injurious,” he said.
Mr Kitto submitted character references for Mack and asked the court to deal the matter by way of fine or community-based order. He said the offender ran a truck transport and licence training business in Esperance and was a person who had served the Esperance community.
“He should be relieved from the consequences of the conviction,” Mr Kitto said, while making an application for a spent conviction. He also requested the court to “take into account the enormity of harm inflicted” to Mack. Mr Kitto said the offender’s “knee was completely blown off” during a tackle by one of the boys from the victim’s group and had to take time off work.
“My client and [the co-accused] received scandalous death threats; social media was ablaze with this,” he said. Mr Kitto mentioned his client did not have any prior criminal history.
Addressing the offender, Magistrate Giuseppe Mignacca-Randazzo said the victim was in “a vulnerable position with two larger adult men attacking him”.
“In this incidence, this is common assault towards the lower end of the scale, because you’re a person of otherwise excellent character, hardworking qualities, and high values” he said.
Magistrate Mignacca-Randazzo said he considered the threats and the reactions from the Esperance community had an impact on Mack. He said he also considered that Mack’s actions may not have caused everything mentioned in the victim impact statement. Magistrate Mignacca-Randazzo said he believed the incident was not vigilante behaviour since it did not involve premeditated actions.
“It was, as I said, a ‘rush of blood’; you’re unlikely to reoffend,” he said.
Magistrate Mignacca-Randazzo fined Mack $1,200 plus costs of $264.30 to be paid to the prosecution. He also granted him a spent conviction. Magistrate Mignacca-Randazzo also awarded costs of $1,290 to the defence.
