Bones break, punches fly as footy game erupts in violence

SOCCER is known as a great unifier of people but that was not the case when some kids kicking a football led to a nasty confrontation.

Luke Daniel Fuller-Genders, 25, pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm. Picture: Ross Irby

SOCCER is known as a great unifier of people but that was not the case when some kids kicking a football in a rural town led to a nasty confrontation.

The subsequent street fight left a 77-year-old man with a broken arm and his son, 55, injured after he was struck with a baseball bat.

The mother of a boy who was playing with the ball was punched in the face after she first punched one man in the face.

Ipswich District Court heard the details this week, with the circumstances of the case described as "peculiar".

A man who became involved after hearing the mother's yells was charged with two assaults after he struck the elderly man and his adult son with a baseball bat.

Luke Daniel Fuller-Genders, 25, pleaded guilty to doing grievous bodily harm to Warren Jensen, 77, and assault causing bodily harm to Kenneth Jensen, 55, at Laidley on August 12, 2018.

Crown prosecutor Cecelia Bernardin read from a statement made by Fuller-Genders after the assaults, saying that "I didn't want to kill him", and that he struck "with not much force".

When told by police that Warren Jensen was 77, Fuller-Genders said it was not going to make him fee l worse.

However, Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren SC found the remarks were made before Fuller-Genders became fully aware of the exact circumstances in the lead-up to his involvement.

Ms Bernardin said a medical report found Mr Jensen's right arm fractures were consistent with defensive injuries. The court heard Mr Jensen was holding a stick at the time he was struck.

Defence barrister Scott Neaves said Fuller-Genders's apparent lack of remorse in his comments to police came soon after the street incident without him knowing the full details of what sparked the incident.

"It is not a case where my client sought out a fight, but got involved in it and he accepts he ought not to have," Mr Neaves said.

"It is an unusual scenario."

He said Fuller-Genders was a labourer and now training as a disability support worker.

He had since left Laidley and moved to the Hervey Bay area.

Judge Horneman-Wren said Fuller-Genders was at home when he heard a woman screaming out like she was "being flogged" by somebody.

He saw the woman being escorted down the street that night by another woman. An elderly man was seen holding a stick and a boy, 15, held a baseball bat.

Judge Horneman-Wren said the incident demonstrated how easily crimes were committed when people dispensed with civility.

He said the boy and a girl had been kicking a soccer ball in the street when the Jensens apparently took exception after the ball struck their car.

The boy's mother later walked to their house but was told to leave.

She refused and punched Kenneth Jensen who then allegedly punched her several times.

Judge Horneman-Wren said the boy's mother punched Kenneth Jensen in the chin.

Fuller-Genders entered the fray when he heard the mother yelling.

The elder Mr Jensen told him to go, pushed Fuller-Genders in the chest, "and things went terribly off the rails".

Fuller-Genders got the baseball bat and swung it, striking 77-year-old Jensen once in the forearm.

The younger Jensen was struck as he ran towards his father.

"This is a case where civility between neighbours deteriorated into a violent encounter of people aged between 15 and 77," Judge Horneman-Wren said. "Courts take a very dim view of people who take things into their own hands, even over something so silly as kicking a ball in the street."

Fuller-Genders was sentenced to two years' jail for grievous bodily harm, suspended for three years, and two years' probation for the assault.