Northlakes Tavern brawl: Kane O’Meley sentenced
A MAN at the centre of the Northlakes Tavern brawl, in which another man had half his ear bitten off, had consumed 20 standard drinks and cocaine during an eight-hour bender before starting the wild fracas.
Central Coast
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A MAN at the centre of the Northlakes Tavern brawl, in which another man had half his ear bitten off, had consumed 20 standard drinks and cocaine during an eight-hour bender before starting the wild fracas.
The shocking new details come after Kane O’Meley was sentenced to two years jail over his involvement in what police described as “20 minutes of madness” with a non-parole period of one year and five months.
With time already served since his arrest on November 29, 2016, after fleeing to Darwin, the 27-year-old was able to walk free from Newcastle District Court on Friday.
During his sentencing the court heard O’Meley, of Cessnock, was on a good behaviour bond at the time of the brawl having served three months jail for assault occasioning actual bodily harm during a domestic incident earlier in 2016.
O’Meley was in the smoking area of the tavern about 10.30pm on November 12, 2016, when a man came over and asked his cousin Nathan O’Meley about his Kobe Bryant basketball singlet, which was ripped down the front.
The pair exchanged words before Kane O’Meley came over and punched a 55-year-old man who was trying the diffuse the situation.
A friend of the 55-year-old’s, Rhys Greig, went to his aid and was punched in the back of the head before the situation descended into what a court would hear was a “mess of violence”.
At some stage Mr Greig had a 6cm-long, 1cm-wide, section of his ear bitten off.
The piece was later found but could not be reattached.
O’Meley was charged with biting his ear off but was found not guilty after a three-day trial at Gosford District Court in August after a jury could not be certain — beyond doubt — who actually did the biting from various CCTV angles of the brawl.
On the first day of the trial O’Meley pleaded guilty to reckless wounding, assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company and two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
On Friday Judge Tanya Bright rejected his claims to a psychologist that he felt like he needed to protect his cousin and himself at the time because his actions were at odds with that.
The court heard O’Meley had been ejected from the pub by security after the first skirmish but came back in and started the melee all over again.
“These were senseless, unprovoked and violent acts,” Judge Bright said.
“A message must be sent not only to this offender but to other members of the community that the court will not tolerate such behaviour.”
Nathan O’Meley and three other friends, Chad Gregory, Jarrod Jacobs and Beau Stangle, all pleaded guilty to their respective roles in the chaos and were given suspended sentences or community services orders.