Hindley St fight after which Jack Hanley died was started by verbal abuse from alleged killer’s friends, court hears
The street incident that claimed the life of Jack Hanley was sparked by a “vulgar and aggressive” comment made about a woman by his killer’s group of friends, a court has heard.
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The street incident that claimed the life of Jack Hanley was sparked by a “vulgar and aggressive” comment made about a woman by his killer’s group of friends, a court has heard.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard an eyewitness recount of the minutes before Mr Hanley was killed by a “loud, hard, awful” punch allegedly thrown by Reece Watherston.
Mr Hanley’s friend, Mitchell Blackie, said he was sitting on the ground near a taxi rank, playing with a broken metal trolley, when their group encountered Watherston and his friends.
He said their friend Kalise Pasini had been verbally abused by one of Watherston’s friends, prompting him to reply “shut the f--k up”.
“That’s when it escalated... they started approaching us, they were not happy,” he said.
“I hit one of them with the trolley... a fight broke out (but) the fight had finished when I saw Jack get punched.
“I saw him get punched in front of me... he was doing nothing, just trying to avoid it (the fight)... the punch was loud, hard, awful.
“Jack just fell backwards on the ground... (one of Watherston’s group) said ‘look at your fat c--t friend asleep, that’s what you get’.”
Watherston, 21, has pleaded not guilty to one count of manslaughter.
Prosecutors allege he killed Mr Hanley with a single “extremely powerful” punch after “aggressively pursuing him” along Hindley St in December 2017.
They allege the punch was thrown amid a verbal and physical altercation between the men’s respective groups of friends after the nightclub strip closed at 5am.
However, they say Mr Hanley was not an aggressor in that confrontation and was actively trying to avoid it, and move away, when Watherston killed him.
The court has heard both men had consumed MDMA and cannabis before the incident.
Witnesses also report members of Watherston’s group inhaling “nossies”, or small cannisters of nitrous oxide.
On Wednesday, Mr Blackie said he had taken between six and seven “caps” of MDMA on the night of the incident.
He said he had also been drinking pre-mixed spirits.
The comment about Ms Parisi, he said, was made in an “aggressive, pissed” tone and that Watherston’s group was “not happy, they were upset”.
The trial, before Justice Anne Bampton and in the absence of a jury, continues.
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