Mount Gambier fatal brawl: Witness to bashing of father Rex Court describes volley of kicks

A WITNESS to a shocking gang assault in Mount Gambier that left one man dead and another with serious head injuries has described a volley of kicks from the alleged perpetrators as looking like they were trying to kick a long goal in football.

Rex Court, 32, died after being bashed by a gang in Mount Gambier on Saturday night. Source: Facebook.

• Father dies after brawl, teen charged with murder
• Separate incident: Murder probe as two bodies found in Millicent house

A WITNESS to a shocking gang assault in Mount Gambier that left one man dead and another with serious head injuries has described a volley of kicks from the alleged perpetrators as looking like they were trying to kick a long goal in football.

Mount Gambier father Rex Court, 32, died following a large fight involving up to 16 people on Commercial St East about 9pm on Saturday.

The assault has been declared a major crime and police arrested a 15-year-old boy, from Mount Gambier, and charged him with murder.

The teenager faced Mount Gambier Magistrates Court on Monday morning on a single count of murder.

His lawyer asked for the preparation of reports on whether he was a suitable candidate for home detention bail.

Prosecutors told the court they would oppose his release on bail of any form but did not outline any of the details of the incident in court.

The boy’s parents were in the gallery of the court for the brief hearing.

Magistrate Theresa Anderson remanded the teenager in custody ahead of a further bail hearing in two weeks.

A man in his 40s, who did not want to be named, said he was driving to the supermarket when he saw a commotion on Commercial St about 9pm Saturday.

“I would have said about 20 kids in two separate groups, just kicking the absolute sh*t out of these two guys on the ground,” he said.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve seen kicking before but this was literally run-ups, boots, boots — they were trying to kick them like they were lining up from outside 50 (metres).”

The witness said he drove around the block back to the scene but the groups of young people had already fled the area.

The man called triple-0 and said the incident was only brief but its ferocity had left him shaken.

“It was all over in about a minute — you know in the old cartoons where a cat gets thrown into the dog pound — it was on, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” he said.

A flower tribute at the scene where Rex Court was bashed in Mount Gambier. Picture: Simon Cross.

He said a number of witnesses converged on the scene and tried to help the stricken men lying on the footpath.

“There were probably seven or eight people that were trying to administer first aid but you’ve got guys who were knocked out so it was basically trying to keep them still and calm until the ambulance arrived.”

The father of teenagers said he immediately feared the worst for Mr Court, who was unconscious, while Anthony Wilson — who remains in a serious but stable condition — was severely injured and dazed while trying to get away.

“He was sort of half trying to move to get out, but when you’ve got eight or nine people trying to kick you at once you’ve got no hope of getting up,” he said.

The man said he had grown up in the area and witnessed plenty of fights, but had never seen such a one-sided attack.

“Back in the old days it was one on one or maybe two on one, but there was a reason for it. I don’t know what the circumstances were here,” he said.

The father said he remained shocked at what he saw and at the age of the arrested teen.

“What’s really rocked me is that I’ve got kids coming through around the same age that are going to be out in this in a couple of years time,” he said.

Major Crime detectives are continuing to investigate the fight.