Wayne Hartwig jailed over ‘senseless street violence’

A thug who once savagely beat two alpacas to death has been sentenced over another vicious assault which left a young man unconscious and with a broken jaw.

A man who once savagely beat two alpacas to death has been sentenced over another vicious assault which left a young man unconscious and with a broken jaw.

Wayne Charles Hartwig, 27, walked up to the 22-year-old and coward punched him in the face after he was refused entry from a nightclub in Fortitude Valley, the Brisbane District Court heard.

The court was told the young man fell backwards and hit his head which knocked him unconscious and he later required surgery for two jaw fractures.

“What makes Mr Hartwig’s conduct particularly disturbing is that there was no provocation or rhyme or reason for the attack,” Crown prosecutor Evan O’Hanlon-Rose said.

“It was senseless, gratuitous street violence on a public street.”

Wayne Charles Hartwig appears in court over the death of two alpacas in 2013.

Hartwig appeared in court on Friday where he pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to the young man on November 23, 2019.

The court heard it was the second time he had faced court for wanton violence.

In 2013, he was sentenced to 18 months’ probation after he and a 16-year-old co-offender whipped two alpacas with a hose and beat them with a metal bar at Caboolture State High School’s farm.

One alpaca was later found dead by a school employee and the other was so badly injured it had to be euthanised.

Barrister Nicholas Brown told the court that since the Fortitude Valley attack, Hartwig had reduced his drinking significantly.

Mr Brown said at the time of the assault, the father of one had been going through a difficult time and he had no memory of his offending because of his inebriation.

“The only way it can be explained … is at that time his partner had left him and he hadn’t seen his child in about four months,” he said.

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Judge Katherine McGinness sentenced Hartwig to three years’ jail for his drunken offending.

“I accept you are remorseful and that you do not offend while sober, but that is the issue,” Judge McGinness said.

“If you don’t do something about your drinking when it’s clear that you have a tendency to act violently when intoxicated you will find yourself likely back in custody and you risk causing serious harm to someone else in the community.”

He will be released on parole after serving eight months behind bars.