Martial artist Francois Joseph Ghassibe pleads guilty to manslaughter but denies murder
Brian Richardson was beaten to death on a CBD street by a man 30 years his junior – but the self-confessed killer insists he’s not a murderer.
Police & Courts
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A trained martial artist has admitted beating a man, 40 years older than him, to death with his bare hands in the middle of a CBD street – but insists he is not a murderer.
Francois Joseph Ghassibe faced the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday over the alleged murder of pensioner Brian Richardson in April this year.
Asked to enter his plea to the charge, he replied: “I plead not guilty to the charge of murder, but I agree to plead guilty to the charge of manslaughter.”
Although Ghassibe confirmed, by his plea, he was responsible for Mr Richardson’s violent death, prosecutors did not accept it – sending the case to the Supreme Court for trial.
Ghassibe, 30, of Mansfield Park, was originally charged with manslaughter over the death of Mr Richardson, 70, in a road-rage incident on West Terrace.
Prosecutors alleged he intervened in a dispute between his taxi driver and Mr Richardson by throwing “a flurry of punches” at the older man’s head.
They further alleged that, as Mr Richardson “cowered and tried to cover his head”, Ghassibe “kneed or kicked him in the face”.
He allegedly told the driver “it’s okay, we will go back to the hood, he hit you and I f***ed him up”, and claimed self-defence due to the other people in Mr Richardson’s car.
Those people, the court has heard, were his wife and dementia-stricken relatives – it also heard Ghassibe is “a highly-trained martial artist”.
The charge against Ghassibe was subsequently upgraded to murder.
On Wednesday, counsel for Ghassibe conceded their client still had a case to answer on the charge of murder and asked it be committed for trial.
The state’s chief magistrate, Judge Mary-Louise Hribal, remanded Ghassibe in custody to face the Supreme Court in February, when a trial date will be set.
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