Hefty fines for brothers after funeral fight

IT was meant to be a family gathering to farewell a mother, but a misunderstanding cost two men $4500 in fines.

IT WAS meant to be a family gathering to farewell a mother, but a misunderstanding cost two men $4500 in fines.

Dale Sinton Blyth, 39, and Robert John Bunn, 37, pleaded guilty on February 28 in ­Rockhampton District Court to one count each of common assault.

Crown prosecutor Samantha O’Rourke said the brothers were at their mother’s funeral on June 20, 2017, when Blyth misunderstood the behaviour of Clayton Evans, former partner of their sister Pauline Bunn.

Ms O’Rourke said Blyth thought Mr Evans was smirking at him during the funeral, so after the funeral, Blyth approached Mr Evans and punched him.

She said Bunn held Mr Evans while Blyth punched him again.

Blyth’s defence barrister Ross Lo Monaco said these were “really very unusual set of circumstances”.

“Their mother had died after nine months of suffering with cancer,” Mr Lo Monaco said.

“Blyth and his wife spent quite a lot of time caring for his mother in her last days.”

Mr Lo Monaco said Mr Evans, father of Ms Bunn’s children, had attended the funeral because he had known their mother a long time.

He said Ms Bunn became upset by the presence of her former partner but she was told by her brother to “cut the crap out”.

He said Blyth did not have much contact with his family normally and lived in ­Moranbah with his wife and children while working at the mines.

Bunn was on parole at the time after being sentenced in the Supreme Court for drugs in 2018.

Bunn had a seven-page criminal record which included four assault occasioning bodily harm convictions which involved assaults on two children with a belt using excessive discipline.

Blyth was ordered to pay a $2500 fine and Bunn to pay a $2000 fine. Both had convictions recorded.