Kye Anthony Carr convicted in Coffs Harbour court after breaking woman’s jaw with fence paling
An early morning stand-off in a Coffs Harbour street ended with a woman needing surgery. Here’s why the offender will soon be a free man.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A Coffs Harbour teenager who broke a woman’s jaw when he clocked her with a fence paling will be home for Christmas after spending almost a year in custody.
Kye Anthony Carr, now aged 20, appeared via audio visual link in Coffs Harbour Local Court on Wednesday.
He pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and two counts of destroy/damage property.
Magistrate Ian Rodgers said Carr - who had been using cannabis since the age of 13 and was diagnosed with ADHD - used a “converted weapon” to commit the crime.
A woman heard a loud banging noise from Narranga Public School - near her home - about 1.30am on June 12 last year, court documents state.
Stepping outside to investigate, the woman saw a man and others in a group.
She grabbed a piece of wood about the size of a two-by-four from a garden and asked the group: “Did you hit something at the school?”
After a verbal exchange between the woman and the man - now known to be Carr - he walked down the street and pulled an old fence paling. Carr, who was drunk, hurled the paling at the woman, but missed.
She threw the paling back at him, only for Carr to return serve - this time hitting the woman.
The impact broke her jaw and cut open an eyebrow and her shoulder.
The woman was taken to Coffs Harbour Hospital before being transferred to John Hunter Hospital at Newcastle, where she underwent surgery to repair her jaw.
After leaving the scene, Carr was in nearby Adelines Way with a group of people, police facts state.
He used a knife to stab a steel fence, cutting himself in the process and causing blood to splatter. Carr then stabbed or slashed the rear tyres on a Ford Fiesta nearby.
Police facts state there was a DNA match to Carr from both the fence paling and the blood near the damaged fence.
Carr was arrested on unrelated matters on December 17 last year when, according to police facts, he told officers: “Yeah it was my blood. I was in the horrors. It was the same night when I got that thing thrown at my head”.
Carr recounted a different version of his run-in with the woman, according to court documents.
“I don’t know what happened, I just remember a big boondi (stick) flying at me,” Carr said.
“I tried to turn and run but it hit me. She was saying you putrid little c--ts.
“That stick hit me in the back and it hit me in the back of the head as well.
“I picked it up and threw it at the fence. I said, f--k you, you old c--t.”
Magistrate Rodgers said Carr’s intoxication at the time was not a mitigating factor and slashing the car’s tyres showed a “high level of aggression”.
He said Carr was still an “extremely young” man who enjoyed the support of family.
Carr planned to move to South Australia with his partner on his release from jail.
On each of the two counts of intentionally or recklessly destroy/damage property, Carr was convicted and sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.
He was also convicted on the charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and given a 12-month jail sentence, with a non-parole period of six months.
Carr will be eligible for release on December 16.
‘Pain nine out of ten’: Processes examined in aged care death inquest
The ongoing coronial inquest into the 2020 death of a 63-year-old Mid-North Coast aged care resident has examined if systems and procedures were followed before a key witness aired her grief.
Read more
‘Hard to fathom’: Public speak up in hunt for Bowraville child killer
Homicide detectives are busy taking statements as they probe the suspected murder of three children from Bowraville in the 1990s, with a focus on finding the remains of 16-year-old Colleen Walker-Craig. Here’s the latest.
Read more