Oliver Lazaveric sentenced for assaulting two police officers at Magnums, Airlie Beach

An intoxicated Adelaide visitor to the Whitsundays “didn’t know what [his] hands were doing” as an argument transformed into a fight, as police accuse him of holding an officer’s firearm while squeezing another’s genitals.

Oliver Lazaveric fronted Proserpine Magistrates Court for assaulting a police officer on May 15, 2024.

What should have been a nice evening in tropical paradise for an Adelaide visitor to the Whitsundays quickly turned sour when an argument with police transformed into a full scale fight.

Oliver Lazaveric, 37, was at popular Airlie Beach bar Magnums on a Friday night on March 24 last year, when he was asked to leave the premises by security after he screamed at bar staff, intoxicated.

Prosecutor Sergeant Emma Myors said security had asked police to intervene, but Lazaveric stayed when asked to leave.

“Squeezed his genitals”

Sergeant Myors told the court police then arrested him and took hold of both his arms, but he “brushed them off”.

Lazaveric was then taken towards the wall near the venue’s toilet by police, but he kept defending himself, first trapping both an officers arms with his hand, then reaching for the other officer’s firearm with his other hand.

Sergeant Myors said he was able to “secure a grip on the firearm” but not hold it.

Officers then took him to the ground, and he reached for the officer’s taser holster, which got unclipped.

“And using that as leverage, he was able to pull his upper body over to lay on his back and face the police,” Sergeant Myors said.

The court heard Lazaveric then reached out to the officer’s inner right leg and strongly squeezed it, which “caused pain to the officer”.

Later on in the altercation, Lazaveric managed to take a hold of one officer’s taser and “put it down towards him”.

Sergeant Myors said the officer then “moved his legs apart” when he crashed over the defendant, as he was trying to avoid the taser.

Lazaveric had then taken hold of the officer’s groin and “squeezed his genitals”, which had caused “immense pain”.

Ms Myors told the court officers had managed to secure him “at last” when they “increased the force” used.

“Trying to grab hold of anything”

Lazaveric, who started addressing the court by saying he had flown all the way from Adelaide to face his sentence in Proserpine, told the court he believed he had been badly dealt with by police.

He said he had sustained injuries in the fight, sharing a list in court, and explained his behaviour on that night as completely “out of character”.

Lazaveric said he had not intentionally tried to grab the firearm or squeeze the officers’ sensible parts, but rather was trying to “get a hold of anything” in self defence, as he was “getting hit when it happened”.

He told magistrate Michelle Howard the allegations of squeezing the officers’ sensitive parts were “not supported by the CCTV”.

Ms Howard asked him if he was still pleading guilty to the charges, which Lazaveric responded he would settle for saying he did not remember the incident as he wanted this over with.

“I learned a valuable lesson from the incident,” he told the court.

“I will never put myself in a similar position again.”

Lazaveric pleaded guilty to failing to leave licenced premises, obstructing a police officers and two charges of assaulting a police officer.

He asked the court not to record the offence as he is currently studying to become a youth worker in South Australia.

Ms Howard accepted the incident had been out of character as he had no history at all on his record.

She fined him $1200, and no convictions were recorded.