Ajani Carre: Asquith brawler convicted of assault outside Hornsby’s Odeon Cinema

What should have been a friendly greeting of “happy Easter” to a passer-by ended up sparking a savage brawl outside the Odeon Cinema in which a music producer and his friends brutally assaulted a man.

An aspiring music producer took part in a savage melee outside an iconic upper north shore cinema after his mates passed a man one of them believed was an ex-neighbour who called the cops to report their loud party.

On Wednesday Asquith man Ajani Carre, 19, fronted Hornsby Local Court after pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm in the company of others.

The savage brawl which was all sparked after an unrelated group of people wished “happy Easter” to a man sitting on the front step of Hornsby’s Odeon Cinema, agreed facts filed in court state.

A court heard Carre and his friends — co-accused Zach Gibson, Cameron Clarke and Joshua Charman — were walking past the Odeon around 10pm on April 15 when the unrelated group of people wished the victim a happy Easter.

When the victim replied “I am not a Christian”, he then noticed Carre and his friends. He then asked the group “Are you Christian?”, the court heard.

Ajani Carre.

“Gibson then recognised the victim as a previous neighbour … and has said ‘are you a pussy?’,” agreed police facts state.

“Gibson then kicked the victim in the foot … (and) said ‘I’m your ex-neighbour you c***’ and ‘you called the cops on me for that party I had’.

Hornsby’s Odeon Cinema. Picture: Julian Andrews.

“The victim has replied saying ‘I’m a pacifist’ … (and) ‘I don’t want to fight’.”

Despite the victim’s attempt to stop the fight, the back-and-forth subsequently erupted into an all-in assault, which was captured in vivid detail on CCTV cameras and witnessed by four bystanders, the court heard.

Agreed police facts tendered to court reveal Gibson was the first to punch the victim before Carre also started striking the man.

Carre and Gibson continued to assault the man until he fell to the ground with the group standing above him.

Hornsby Court House. Generic Hornsby photos.

“Gibson has then reared his leg back and kicked the victim in the face, causing the victim’s head to move backward into the pavement behind him,” court documents state.

The kick knocked the victim unconscious, who was later found by police with a dislocated jaw and a large wound on the back of his head.

The court heard Clarke and Charman made no attempt to stop the brutal assault, while Clarke found the victim’s phone on the ground, picked it up and dumped it in a bin between Magic Kebab and the Odeon.

Carre’s defence lawyer raised his client’s young age and early guilty plea as reasons for leniency.

But the prosecution said Carre was the second worst offender — following Gibson — in the matter because he struck the victim.

Magistrate Michelle Goodwin agreed, telling the court the matter was very serious.

“It was a gratuitous attack on a complete stranger who became unconscious … (it) doesn’t matter who did the kicking, your client was there and was assisting and suddenly ran away,” she told the defence.

Ms Goodwin convicted Carre and sentenced him to a six month term of imprisonment to be served in the community be means of an intensive corrections order (ICO).

“If you continue with these types of offences of gratuitous violence … you will go to jail — I can’t make it any clearer than that,” Ms Goodwin told Carre.

Charman was also convicted and fined $700, while Gibson has been charged and entered a guilty plea. He has not yet been sentenced. The charges against the fourth co-accused, Cameron Clarke, were withdrawn.