George Barcha: Fairfield councillor fights common assault allegation at court hearing

A Fairfield councillor and suspended Labor member allegedly put a woman in a headlock, repeatedly punched her in the face and called her a “dirty Aussie white s**t”, a court has heard.

George Barcha is a councillor at Fairfield City Council.

A Fairfield councillor and suspended Labor member allegedly put a woman in a headlock, repeatedly punched her in the face and called her a “dirty Aussie white s**t”, a court has heard.

George Barcha, 55, fronted Fairfield Local Court on Thursday for a hearing after pleading not guilty to common assault.

The charge stems from an alleged incident at 7am on April 14, 2022, at Crescent Rd in the Fairfield CBD.

The court heard the councillor put a woman in a headlock and threatened “I’m going to smash you” after she approached Barcha and an associate in a wheelchair who she believed was urinating in public near Fairfield station.

When giving evidence, complainant Jessica Row said she was “just being a polite person taking photos of something that was wrong” and asked them to wait for police when Barcha allegedly called her an “Aussie s**t”.

George Barcha appeared in Fairfield Local Court on Thursday.

Ms Row said when Barcha saw her taking photos he “didn’t like what I was doing” and attacked her.

However, the councillor denied the allegation and claimed he never saw the woman on August 14 and was at home preparing to leave for work at then Fairfield MP Guy Zangari’s office.

Instead, Barcha alleged he saw the complaint a few days prior on August 10 when he was working for his business – AAA Ability Care – to pick up an associate in a wheelchair from Fairfield station.

“He rang me up and I picked him up at the station and the lady she was standing on the other side of the road was shouting ‘you have to wait you can’t’ go,” he said in the witness box.

The councillor accused the woman of being “very agitated” as she crossed the road to take pictures and said he attempted to place his associate in his car and leave “because I don’t want any issues with her”.

Barcha denied he hit or called the woman slurs because as a public official it would “ruin his reputation”.

Fairfield City councillor George Barcha.

“As a politician your reputation is your asset. If you lose your reputation you lose everything,” he said.

The prosecution alleged when Barcha was questioned by police in July, last year, about the events on April 14, he told officers the woman spat on him and he responded “you’re dirty”.

When the prosecutor questioned Barcha on why he would say the statement after denying using foul language the councillor said: “But if someone spits on you what do you say”.

Barcha said the woman spat on the street and insisted he wanted to leave the scene quickly to avoid a possible confrontation.

Two other prosecution witnesses delivered evidence to the court on Thursday and the defence will be calling on five witnesses when the case resumes.

The matter was adjourned until April 3, next year.

Barcha remains suspended from Labor pending the outcome of this case.