Lachlan Foster: Northern beaches man guilty of drunken group bashing
The trigger of an alcohol-charged attack on a defenceless man - punched, kicked and stomped on by three pals - has been revealed as a simple slur outside a northern beaches kebab shop.
Manly
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A vicious drunken group bashing of a man outside a Manly convenience shop was sparked by a litter slur, it has been revealed.
Baby-faced Lachlan Foster spent his 20th birthday detailing what led to him kicking, stomping and punching in the face of a man curled in the foetal position about 2am on June 30, 2019.
The Freshwater man, then aged 18, had spent the night “gulping” Corona beers, vodka lemonades and Vodka red bulls at the open bar of his boss’s party before wandering to Ser Bar Kebab and Pide House on Manly Corso, the court heard.
The then-apprentice carpenter stood on the street and ripped off the paper off the kebab and tossed it to the ground which triggered a female friend of the victim to say, “seriously, there is a bin right there”, the agreed facts state.
Foster told the court he has a vague memory of “bumping” into this victim and his five friends, four women and a man, at the kebab house but can’t remember the actions which would change the course of his young life.
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The Freshwater man, along with his two friends, followed the victim along Sydney Rd with barbs exchanged between the groups. When Foster and his pals were told to “piss off” the men told the victim’s male mate that he looked like a “f**king junkie”.
A push and shove erupted into a brawl with the victim knocked to the ground by a blow to the face by Foster’s friend.
Court documents state Foster then “stood over” the victim and “raised his hand behind his head and punched him three times to the face and head area”.
Foster then forcefully kicked the defenceless man three times before completing the vicious attack with a right foot stomp to the head. The victim was rushed to Royal North Shore Hospital with serious facial fractures, spinal injuries and a broken left leg.
When Foster was pulled away from the assault by a female friend of the victim, he said “I’ll hit a b**ch, I’ve hit a b**ch before”.
In Downing Centre District Court on Thursday, the 20-year-old man said he had watched CCTV footage of the attack about 20 times and he was ashamed by his actions, describing it as “cowardly”. He told the court he no longer drank alcohol as a result of the violence.
Foster’s barrister Phillip Boulten SC told the court his client was completing drug and alcohol counselling, seeing a psychologist and been taking new ADHD medication and called for a sentence which didn’t take him away from his support network.
However Judge Gordon Lerve said, in his early assessment, he couldn’t see how a sentence other than full-time jail was available.
Judge Lerve will sentence Foster for reckless assault occasioning grievous bodily harm in company next week.