Footy player Angkamuthi Charlie jailed for Gladstone carpark bashing

A talented young Central Queensland footballer responsible for two violent public bashings this year, has been jailed.

Angkamuthi Charlie, 22, was sentenced in the District Court at Gladstone.

A talented young Central Queensland footballer has been told he is wasting his life if he continues to punch people and ends up in jail.

Angkamuthi Charlie, 22, appearing in custody, was sentenced in the District Court at Gladstone after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm.

The court heard on January 21 the male victim, whom Charlie did not know, was at the Coles Kin Kora rooftop carpark.

Charlie and his friends were walking along the Dawson Highway and there was “yelling exchanged between the two groups.”

The court was told Charlie went to the carpark and accused the group there of racially abusing him and a heated argument occurred between the two groups.

Charlie walked up to the victim and a young woman put herself between the pair and pushed Charlie.

Charlie reacted angrily to that and punched the male victim to the head.

The victim then stepped forward and Charlie punched him again, this time to the right eye which knocked him to the ground.

“That blow was a heavy one and shattered the contact lens that he was wearing and caused injury to his cornea, his right eyelid and to the muscle responsible for moving his iris,” Judge Vicki Loury said.

“And those injuries required surgical repair.”

The court was told the victim did not suffer any permanent injury.

It heard police found Charlie not long after the incident and he immediately admitted to punching the victim twice.

At the time Charlie committed this offence, he had a “relatively minor” criminal history which had no offences of violence.

However, while he was on bail, he was involved in the gang bashing of a Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) officer at a Cairns hotel in June.

Gladstone Courthouse.

In July, Charlie pleaded guilty in Gladstone Magistrates Court to offences including assault occasioning bodily harm in company and was sentenced to nine months’ jail with parole fixed at August 23, 2024.

During the District Court sentencing on September 12, barrister Scott Moon said Charlie was educated to Year 10, had previously worked as a tree lopper, and before being incarcerated he was told by an AFL coach that he may be good enough to play professionally in Western Australia.

Mr Moon said Charlie had no issues with drugs, alcohol or his mental health.

“Although on this night... (Charlie) was affected by alcohol but not to a degree that he was heavily intoxicated - he describes himself as tipsy only,” Mr Moon said.

“He is very remorseful for this matter... during conference he was very apologetic for the injury that has been caused to the complainant, and for the fact that this occurred.”

Judge Loury said she had to take into account the likely sentence Charlie would have received had his grievous bodily harm and assault occasioning bodily harm matters been dealt with at the same time.

“I must also impose a sentence that promotes your rehabilitation because you are still a very young man who has an ability to contribute positively to our community,” she said.

“But you need to do something about why it is that you act violently like this, because you are wasting your life if you continue to punch people and cause serious injury and end up in jail.”

Judge Loury sentenced Charlie to two years and nine months’ jail, concurrent with the sentence he is currently serving.

She declared 47 days’ pre-sentence custody as time already served and ordered parole release at February 23, 2025.