Jese Smith-Shields and Bayley Loughhead await jury verdict over Canberra music festival brawl
The lawyers for two rugby league mates, one the brother of a star Raiders player, have argued they should be cleared of wrongdoing over the fight which saw a schoolmate left with a broken jaw.
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Jurors will continue deliberating in the case of two Canberra rugby league mates accused of breaking a man’s jaw in a fight at a music festival sparked by rumours about one of their girlfriends had slept with a former school mate.
Jese Smith-Shields, 22, and mate Bayley Loughhead, also 22, were both charged with recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm and assault occasioning actual bodily harm after a former school and footy mate, Nick Lawrence, had his jaw broken at the Spilt Milk music festival in November 2018.
Both have pleaded not guilty.
Smith-Shields is the older brother of Canberra Raiders centre Harley Smith-Shields, who is not accused of any wrongdoing.
An ACT Supreme Court jury began deliberating on the charges on Tuesday afternoon.
The prosecution case is that Loughhead held Mr Lawrence in a headlock while Smith-Shields punched him, leaving him concussed and with a broken jaw.
Loughhead’s barrister, Jack Pappas, argued it was Mr Lawrence who was “angry” on the day of the festival.
Mr Pappas said Mr Lawrence was amped up on cocaine, and said stretch marks on his arms suggested he was a steroid user.
Mr Lawrence, giving evidence during the trial, denied having ever used steroids and thanked Mr Pappas for complimenting his physique by suggesting he had.
In his closing address, Mr Pappas said the jury should have doubts about the case against his client and should find him not guilty on both charges.
He said the evidence identifying Loughhead as being involved in the fight was weak, but that even if he was involved, the evidence showed Mr Lawrence was the instigator.
Smith-Shields’s barrister, Beth Morrisroe, said her client admitted there was a fight and wasn’t “shying away” from being involved, but said he punched the powerfully-built Mr Lawrence in self-defence.
He said the jury had to form a view on “what did Jese believe at the time of the incident” and keep in mind that he had only a split second to decide what to do.
If the jury concluded there was a “reasonable possibility” Smith-Shields was acting in self defence, they had to find him not guilty, Ms Morrisroe said.
She said her client’s version of events made more sense than Mr Lawrence’s.
“Jese says he wasn’t angry about (rumours of Mr Lawrence and his girlfriend sleeping together) he just wanted nothing to do with her and nothing to do with anyone she knew,” Ms Morrisroe said.
“It’s Nick who was frustrated about the rumour … he’s about 115kg of muscle.
“As (Smith-Shields) said in his own evidence, he believed it was the last resort he had.”