Beaches bar manager Joel Brady Salmon pleads guilty to assaulting female patron

A Whitsunday court failed to see the funny side of an Airlie Beach bar manager’s assault on a female patron he put down to ‘banter between friends’.

An Airlie Beach bar manager who hit a young female patron on the bottom so hard it left a mark for 24 hours has told a court he thought it was just a joke between friends.

Beaches Bar and Grill manager Joel Brady Salmon slapped a 21-year-old woman as she leaned over a pool table to line up her shot at the Airlie Beach venue on July 30, causing her to leave the venue in tears and later make an assault complaint to police.

Proserpine Magistrates Court heard Salmon made inappropriate comments to the woman including that he “couldn’t wait to see photos” of her outfit upon her arrival at the bar about 9.45pm, then about 15 minutes later slapped her bottom and told her he had “been waiting to do that for so long”.

Salmon pleaded guilty to the physical component of the assault but disputed the comments the woman included in her report to police.

He told the court he considered the woman a good friend as she had spent a lot of time at his house while dating his housemate.

He went on to read a statement highlighting that he had apologised to the woman via text message that night and that the woman only went to police with a complaint after a “messy” break-up with the housemate several weeks after the incident, which made him believe he was being “dragged into their affairs”.

Beaches Bar and Grill manager Joel Brady Salmon pleaded guilty to common assault. Picture: Facebook

Magistrate James Morton cut him off before finishing the statement, telling him he would not accept any explanation that placed blame on the victim.

“You say that because of the break up it’s dragged you into this and you’re here?” Mr Morton asked.

“Partially, sir,” Salmon responded.

“Oh come on pal, be real. Are you serious? You slap this woman on the backside and you say that’s her fault?

“You seem to have some entitlement where you think you can do this – that’s the gist I’m getting out of your story.”

Salmon said he merely wanted to provide some “context” around the incident and conceded he had “made a grave error in judgment at the time” by “slapping on the bottom what [he] considered a friend at the time with the intent simply of spooking her for the shot being played”.

“It was in front of friends and the boyfriend at the time,” he said.

“I thought it was banter between friends at the time.”

He asked Mr Morton not to record a conviction as it could affect his livelihood as a licensee.

Salmon told the court he had known the woman for years and considered her a good friend at the time of the incident. Picture: Facebook

Mr Morton fined Salmon $350 and told him “It doesn't matter what you are or who you are – this type of activity is unacceptable.”

“It may have been [acceptable] back in the day – those days are long gone,” Mr Morton said.

“Next time you want to go and exercise your prowess and manhood over somebody thinking that it's going to be a laugh, have a good think about the consequences.”

A conviction was not recorded.