Cairns Court: Dale Murphy convicted of three assault offences including police harm

A Cairns father and footballer regarded as a “gentle giant” and mentor to his community has been convicted of multiple accounts of assault, including fracturing a police officer’s nose.

A CAIRNS father and footballer regarded as a “gentle giant” and mentor to his community has been convicted of multiple accounts of assault, including fracturing a police officer’s nose.

Adulthood was going well for Brisbane born, Cairns raised Woree man Dale Murphy, now 31.

With a strong family support network in the Far North, the father of two had been a “significant” contributor to society for his entire working life – employed as a FIFO diesel fitter while playing rugby league as a front rower for the Cairns Kangaroos A Grade side.

However, following relationship breakdowns, his sons lived with their mothers in Townsville and Darwin.

It was in late 2020, when he was forced to alter his personal circumstances after allegedly becoming aware one of his children would enter state care, due to the mother’s alleged substance use.

Kangaroos’ Rugby League’s Dale Murphy was in court for multiple counts of assault.

It meant Murphy had to quit his job in the mines, and take on a greater parental responsibility. But it was the emotion of the circumstances that had overwhelmed him in the early hours of January 6, 2021, his defence barrister Michael Dalton told the Cairns District Court on Friday during sentencing.

The court heard Murphy, about 3am that morning, was outside Gilligan’s nightclub, when he became involved in a verbal altercation with two other men – who he punched and knocked to the ground.

One man suffered a hairline jaw fracture, the other had general neck pain, neither required medical care or provided victim impact statements.

The third person Murphy assaulted was an arresting police constable, who he head butted after he was handcuffed.

Cairns man Dale Murphy was convicted for multiple accounts of assault at the Cairns District Court. Picture: Brendan Radke.

The court was played video evidence where Murphy could be heard threatening the constable as he was requesting the removal of the handcuffs during a routine pat-down search so he could get into the police vehicle himself.

“I’m going to break your f**ing jaw, you are a f**ing weak dog,” Murphy was heard saying to the officer in the evidence played.

Mr Dalton said his client acknowledged he had a problem with alcohol, which he was already in the process of addressing.

“Role model, leader, community focused, hard working, parent. These are all words (that) describe Dale Murphy,” defence barrister Mr Dalton said.

“There’s probably one more, ‘flawed’. Ultimately, despite his successes, he has a clear problem with alcohol.

Defence barrister Michael Dalton said his client Dale Murphy was a “gentle giant”.

“The observations of (his) referees are that, he is a bit of a gentle giant, that he isn’t someone who is known to be violent. But it is clear there are some inner demons that he is yet to come to terms with.

“At the time of this incident, he was facing unemployment, taking care (of his son) and facing an uncertain future. Those matters were causing him an enormous amount of personal stress.

“As he says in his letter of apology to (the constable) he just remembers feeling angry at everyone and everything.”

Murphy received a structured penalty of a 15 months imprisonment wholly suspended for two years and a two-year probation order for all four offences of assault occasioning bodily harm, common assault, serious assault police causing bodily harm and obstruct police.

Originally published as Cairns Court: Dale Murphy convicted of three assault offences including police harm