Christopher John Manders faces convicted over taxi driver assault at A Day on the Green
A southern suburbs man convicted for assaulting a taxi driver at a Leconfield Wines music festival lashed out following a decline in mental health caused by years of remote work, his lawyers say.
South
Don't miss out on the headlines from South . Followed categories will be added to My News.
An Aldinga Beach man has been convicted for a drunken assault on a taxi driver at A Day on the Green at Leconfield Wines.
Christopher John Manders, 43, was charged with aggravated assault for punching a taxi driver in the head after attending the music festival in November 2019.
The taxi driver had asked Manders – who works as a fly-in, fly-out worker – and his wife to leave the vehicle after a heated argument.
Manders left the car but continued to argue and then punched the driver in the head.
A defence lawyer for Manders said working away from home for weeks at a time had taken a toll on his mental health before the incident.
“Over the last few years, he’s noticed a decline in his mental health. after a two week shift he’d come home for that one week and he found himself drinking more, becoming short tempered and having difficulty sleeping,” he said.
“He’s always found working away from his family and his home very difficult.”
He asked Magistrate Teresa Anderson to consider a good behaviour bond for his client.
“Taxi drivers, police officers, they have to deal with drunken people all the time and they are concerned the courts do not protect them with the penalties that are imposed,” Ms Anderson said.
“It is common place that people that are in these prescribed occupations are assaulted by people like you who don’t necessarily have a history of behaving violently who get themselves in such a state that they become aggressive.
“These people by nature of their occupations are exposed to those risks and they need to be protected from those risks.”
Ms Anderson fined Manders $1200 plus court and prosecution fees and the victims of crime levy.