Lewin Charles Smith cleared of grievous bodily harm over Facebook argument

A Kingaroy dad has been found not guilty of grievous bodily harm after a Facebook argument escalated into a physical altercation, leaving a former friend with a shattered jaw.

Lewin Charles Smith is on trial for grievous bodily harm at Kingaroy District Court

A Kingaroy dad has been found not guilty of grievous bodily harm after a Facebook argument escalated into a physical altercation, leaving a former friend with a shattered jaw.

Lewin Charles Smith pleaded not guilty on Monday to grievous bodily harm in the Kingaroy District Court and on Tuesday night a jury of seven men and five women delivered a unanimous verdict of not guilty.

The court heard Ellesmere man Dean Anthony Petrie and his housemate David Harris were drinking in a granny flat at the back of Mr Petrie’s house on August 20, 2021 in the evening.

Mr Petrie testified that during that time an argument on Facebook occurred where someone allegedly called Mr Smith a “paedophile” on a post about a lost dog.

An officer testified that Mr Harris made a statement admitting he told Mr Smith to “come over” on Facebook, although Mr Harris denied he made that statement.

‘I seen headlights coming out’

There was conflicting testimony about who sent the messages to Mr Smith.

Mr Petrie said after he had finished drinking, he went into the house to help his sister make dinner for her children before he saw a car arrive.

“I seen headlights coming out into the house,” Mr Petrie said.

“I seen Lewin get out of the car and walk up the driveway.”

The court heard Mr Smith took his shirt off before jumping over the locked gate.

Kingaroy Magistrates Court. File Photo.

Mr Petrie said he went to tell Mr Harris before they both walked around the house to the driveway to confront Mr Smith.

The court heard Mr Smith grabbed an aluminium baseball bat and Mr Harris took a metal piece from a kids’ playground set on the property.

When confronting Mr Smith at the front of the house an altercation took place between the three men and Mr Petrie was struck in the jaw.

‘Red and blue’ lights on property

During his testimony, Mr Petrie was unable to remember some of the events of the night and said he had no memory after being struck until he saw “red and blue” lights on the property.

Mr Harris recounted his version of events from the night and said he went to give chase before he turned back to attend to Mr Petrie.

“I was holding a rag on Dean’s face, it was bleeding everywhere,” Mr Harris said.

Crown prosecutor Christa Nicola said Mr Petrie sustained a fractured right jaw “broken into multiple pieces” from the incident.

Mobile phone footage of the chaotic scene taken by Mr Petrie’s sister was shown in court.

Mr Smith’s lawyer, Tristan Carlos argued that it wasn’t Mr Smith who hit Mr Petrie in the jaw but could have been Mr Harris who accidentally hit him with a pole during the altercation or he had sustained the injury from falling down.

Mr Harris denied he had accidentally hit Mr Smith.

Lewin Charles Smith entering Kingaroy District Court.

Mr Petrie’s sister Cassandra Petrie gave evidence and corroborated Mr Petrie and Mr Harris’s version of events but said Mr Smith was “using my brother as a shield” when Mr Harris was trying to hit Mr Petrie.

Ms Petrie said at some point she saw Mr Smith threw Mr Petrie to the ground.

“I remember Dean being on the ground and Lewin hit Dean with the bat ... across the face,” Ms Petrie said.

She said she also saw Mr Smith hit Mr Harris across the head where both the men lay unconscious.

Ms Petrie said she grabbed a kid’s scooter and hit Mr Smith in the head before he fled from the property.

“David eventually got up and jumped in his car but he couldn’t do much, he was still dazed,” Ms Petrie said.

During her testimony, Ms Petrie broke down in tears and needed a break before resuming her account of events.

In her closing argument, Ms Nicola said Ms Petrie was a “reliable” and “honest” witness.

“She saw Mr Smith hit Mr Petrie in the face with a bat,” Ms Nicola said.

“The complainant was on the ground without a weapon.

“(Smith) did not act in self-defence,” she said.

Jury deliberates

In his closing argument, Mr Carlos said a lot of the witness testimony was inconsistent with “three different versions” and said it was Mr Harris who had struck Mr Petrie and blaming Mr Smith was “convenient”.

Mr Carlos noted it was dark with the only light coming from Mr Smith’s car parked in the driveway.

“We know Mr Smith had been invited to come there … the two witnesses were armed and waiting for him to come there,” Mr Carlos said.

Mr Carlos told the jury if they had issues with the reliability and credibility of the witnesses then that was grounds for reasonable doubt.

Judge Glen Cash gave instructions to the jury and said if they believed Mr Smith caused the injury to Mr Petrie then they would have to decide if it was done in self defence or was it unlawful.
Judge Cash went into great detail about self defence before the case was given to them to deliberate.

It took the jury about three hours to find Mr Smith not guilty and he was discharged.