Joshua Trevor Berrigan sentenced for Mieplace Niteclub bashing

A young father accused of throwing a punch that led to a man’s death has been sentenced for a separate incident where he violently bashed a nightclub patron who subsequently needed facial surgery.

Joshua Trevor Berrigan, 23, was sentenced in the District Court at Gladstone on February 5.

A young dad has been sentenced for a violent Gladstone nightclub bashing which left the victim needing facial surgery.

Joshua Trevor Berrigan, 23, was sentenced in the District Court at Gladstone this week after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm.

The court heard the victim was a 28-year-old man who Berrigan attacked at Gladstone’s Mieplace Niteclub on March 12, 2022.

About 2.50am, the victim, who Berrigan didn’t know, was on the dancefloor when a “scuffle” happened involving Berrigan’s friend and another man.

The victim tried to get the two men to let go of each other before security walked over and asked Berrigan’s friend to leave the club.

The victim and security then walked Berrigan’s friend to the front door - it was then that Berrigan approached.

Berrigan said something like “let go, you dog” and the victim turned around.

He then punched him in the face, causing him to fall to the floor. The victim was still on the floor when Berrigan punched him in the face again.

Security and chaplain staff gathered around the victim.

Berrigan started walking towards the front door but on his way, he punched the victim a third time, again while he was still on the floor.

The victim’s nose was bleeding and he felt pain in his jaw and under his right eye.

Police and ambulance attended the club and the victim was taken to Gladstone Hospital.

Gladstone’s Mieplace Niteclub.

The court heard the victim suffered “significant injuries” including nasal, eye and face fractures.

He had to go on a liquid diet, which caused him to lose about 20kg of body weight, and he needed facial surgery at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

The court heard that if left untreated, the victim would have suffered numerous problems including not being able to chew adequately and he also would have had a cosmetic facial deformity.

“This is just gratuitous violence - the (victim) hasn’t done anything, in fact (he) was simply trying to calm things down with these other two people that were scuffling, and for his trouble you (Berrigan) just assault him three times including twice when he’s on the ground,” Judge Craig Chowdhury said.

“There was no need for it whatsoever - he wasn’t offering you any threat or challenge whatsoever.”

The court heard that Berrigan, a father of two, had no offences of violence on his two-page criminal history and defence barrister Julie Marsden said this incident was “out of character” for him being “a social drinker”.

The court was also told that after this incident, and in relation to another matter, Berrigan was charged with unlawful striking causing death and he had been in custody since.

Nathan Isaac McPherson, 43, died in Royal Brisbane Hospital on August 20 last year after he was involved in an altercation near the intersection of Kent and Richmond Streets, Maryborough, about 2.30am on August 19.

Berrigan’s unlawful striking causing death charge is still before the courts.

Judge Chowdhury sentenced Berrigan to two-and-a-half years’ jail, declared 170 days in pre-sentence custody as time already served, and fixed parole release at April 19, 2024.