Darwin rapper Yung Milla cleared over Mitchell St punch on

The judge found a submission that the other man took off his shirt ‘for no particular reason’ was ‘implausible’, saying he was ‘an active and ongoing participant in the fighting’.

A Darwin rapper charged with assaulting a man on the city’s Mitchell St party strip has been cleared of any wrongdoing after a judge ruled the other man “wanted to fight” him.

Levi Nichaloff, aka Yung Milla, pleaded not guilty in the Darwin Local Court to assaulting Kalen Rajak in the early hours of August 15, 2021.

In finding Mr Nichaloff not guilty, judge Thomasin Opie said Mr Rajak had told the court he was walking between the Discovery and Monsoons nightclubs when he was “punched randomly, as hard as you can”.

But Ms Opie found CCTV footage of the incident “identifies a number of errors” in Mr Rajak’s evidence, as well as that of Mr Nichaloff’s brother and fellow rapper Jacob Nichaloff, aka J-MILLA.

“Contrary to Kalen’s claim that his shirt was removed in the course of the fight, the footage shows clearly that Kalen deliberately removed his own shirt while walking to Crocosaurus Cove before the fight,” she said.

“The footage shows that Kalen walked purposefully to Crocosaurus Cove and stood bare-chested facing at close proximity to a person who has been identified as Levi.”

Ms Opie said contrary to his evidence that he “covered his head and behaved defensively” during the scuffle, the footage showed Mr Rajak “gesticulating, throwing punches and engaging in an ongoing interaction” with the brothers.

Rapper Yung Milla arrives at court. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

On the other hand, Ms Opie said Yung Milla’s evidence was “corroborated to a significant degree” by the CCTV footage.

“Levi gave evidence that he thought Kalen wanted to fight because he was ‘standing over me staring at me with no shirt on and a puffed chest, he was breathing heavy, I could see he was drunk and I just got that feeling, I got scared, he was a lot bigger than me’,” she said.

“Levi’s evidence continued: ‘We started to have a verbal argument and I just wanted it to stop, I tried to walk away but Kalen just kept calling out, kept yelling and just looked at me like he wanted to fight’.”

Ms Opie found that the prosecution’s submission that Mr Rajak took off his shirt “for no particular reason” was “implausible”, saying “clearly, Kalen was an active and ongoing participant in the fighting”.

“Levi’s evidence that Kalen had his fists clenched when he first approached cannot be corroborated given the quality of the footage but I accept that was probably the case,” she said.

“Levi and Jacob gave evidence that Kalen was participating actively in the altercation by posturing, calling out to them, swearing, pushing and punching at them … this is corroborated by the footage,” she said.

“I accept Levi’s evidence that he fought because the complainant was initially standing over him and because he feared for his own safety and later that of his brother and because the complainant continued to engage provocatively through his words and actions.”

Originally published as Darwin rapper Yung Milla cleared over Mitchell St punch on