Sculptor Daya Rajapatirana pleads guilty to assaulting stranger at Imbil festival
The man was at a music festival near Imbil when he intervened in a yelling match between a sculptor and his wife, and was punched in the face
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A yelling match between a Murrumba Downs sculptor and his wife at an Imbil music festival ended in court this week after the 52-year-old man punched a stranger in the face when he tried to intervene.
Police prosecutor Melissa Campbell told Gympie Magistrates Court Daya Rajapatirana was at the Mary Valley festival on November 27, 2020 with his wife when the two began yelling at each other.
When another patron asked them to stop, Rajapatirana “got up and punched him in the face”, the court heard.
“He was left with swelling and redness under his eye,” Sergeant Campbell said.
Rajapatirana’s lawyer told the court the 52-year-old had been having – in the words of his wife who was in court to support him – “a type of episode”.
BONUS:Your chance to win $20k with free Courier Mail subscription
His wife was telling people at the festival “she could handle it”, his lawyer said, but the victim had still tried to help anyway.
However, she said this did not in anyway mean to blame the victim for the incident, and Rajapatirana had written a letter of apology to the courts.
“It was out of character,” she said.
MORE GYMPIE NEWS
* Your say: rate how councillors have done in their first year
* Fight to save the ‘Gympie Pyramid’ escalates
Magistrate Kurt Fowler agreed the victim “should be applauded” and not blamed for trying to help.
He noted the 52 year-old had no history of violence, accepted his guilty plea to the assault charge and fined him $750.
No conviction was recorded.
Originally published as Sculptor Daya Rajapatirana pleads guilty to assaulting stranger at Imbil festival
‘I was sexually assaulted for doing my job, then the system failed me’
A traumatised Qld security guard, sexually assaulted in plain sight at a pub while her FIFO worker attacker laughed, has delivered a powerful message about the lifelong scars and “broken” justice system.
Double trouble: Drink-driving L-platers busted after seat swap
The same dumb decision has landed two Learner drivers in a South Burnett court.