Man says COVID-19 fears to blame for assault on woman

The Stanthorpe court heard the man retaliated in an ‘awful’ way after feeling the woman’s ‘breath all over me’.

CIGGY USED FOR ASSAULT: Ryan Batchler plead guilty to assault after he flicked cigarette ash on his victim.

A STANTHORPE man said when he could feel a woman's breath on him during an argument, he flicked his cigarette at her in retaliation.

Ryan Batchler blamed the coronavirus pandemic for his reaction to the close contact on April 4, despite being the person who instigated the fight.
Stanthorpe Magistrates Court yesterday heard the 42-year-old stopped his car and approached the woman and her brother, with whom he used to work and had "bad blood".

"(The man) had been going around telling other people, friends of ours, that he wanted to come down to the woodshed and knock me head off," Batchler said.

"The COVID laws had just been announced, and I could feel her breath all over me."

Police prosecutor Steve de Lissa said the cigarette struck the woman in the chest.

Batchler, a timber miller, represented himself in court.

He said he had undertaken an anger management course and hadn't been in trouble "like this" for some time.

Magistrate Julian Noud commended Batchler for the steps he'd taken to better himself but said it didn't excuse his behaviour.

"It's an awful thing to do to flick a cigarette at someone, despite the circumstances you've described to me," he said.

Batchler pleaded guilty to common assault and was fined $450.

 

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