Buddy Ward jailed for four years after biting off man’s ear outside Port Augusta hotel

A ‘barbaric’ thug who bit a man’s ear off before spitting it out then sent him a Facebook message saying he would remember him every time he looked in the mirror.

A photo of the victim's ear which was taken in December 2022, nine months after the assault. Photo: Courts SA

A thug has been slammed for his “unimaginably vile” act after he bit off a man’s ear and spat it out outside a popular Port Augusta hotel.

Buddy Chase Ward, 34, then taunted the victim by messaging him saying he would remember him every time he looked in the mirror.

During sentencing, the District Court heard the victim was drinking with friends at the Hotel Augusta on March 11, 2022.

He had left the hotel and walked across the road when Ward pulled up and got out of his car.

Ward approached the victim, who he had met a couple of months earlier at a different hotel, and insulted a young woman in his group.

After the victim demanded Ward apologise for what he said, Ward began to assault him.

“You tackled (the victim) to the ground, then picked him up by the neck and held him in a headlock,” Judge Carmen Matteo said

The assault happened outside Hotel Augusta. Picture: Charlie Dadds

“You then bit the top of (the victim’s) left ear off and spat it out.”

Ward let go of the victim, who dropped to the ground.

“(The victim’s) ear was bleeding heavily and he felt like he was blacking out,” Judge Matteo said.

While police were at the hotel with the victim, Ward used a Facebook Messenger account to send him messages where he threatened to come back for him.

“You wrote one message which read, ‘Every time you look in the mirror you will remember me … I chewed your ear off’,” Judge Matteo said.

The victim sustained a human bite amputation to the left ear, with a photo taken in December 2022 showing the top rounded segment of his ear is missing.

Ward, of Iron Knob, pleaded guilty to recklessly causing serious harm.

The court heard Ward told a psychologist he was “three-quarters drunk” at the time of the offending and was horrified at the level of harm he caused to the victim.

Judge Matteo said Ward, who has a violent criminal history, ended his unprovoked assault “in the most barbaric way”.

“Placing (the victim) in a headlock was aggressive and violent, but biting a part of his ear off was an unimaginably vile thing for you to do,” Judge Matteo said.

“It cannot even be said that it involved a momentary lack of decency and restraint because of course you showed in your messages to (the victim) that you were amped up for further conflict and so callous in that moment that you remarked about the disfigurement which you caused him.”

Judge Matteo sentenced Ward to four years and three months jail, with a non-parole period of three years and five months.

Originally published as Buddy Ward jailed for four years after biting off man’s ear outside Port Augusta hotel