Akuila Cava: Darling Harbour brawler convicted, fined

A man who triggered a late night brawl by throwing a punch at a stranger outside a Darling Harbour venue has been sentenced.

A 23 year-old man who threw the first punch in a group-on-group brawl at Darling Harbour has been convicted and slapped with a hefty fine.

Akuila Cava, of Mays Hill, pleaded guilty to affray and was convicted and fined $1500 at Downing Centre Local Court.

Cava outside court on Wednesday.

On the night of February 21 last year, Cava was drinking with eight friends around Darling Harbour – at Cohibar at the Watershed Hotel and then popular late-night haunt Pyrmont Bridge Hotel – when in the early hours of the morning, outside Harbourside Shopping Centre, he approached another, smaller group of late-night revellers.

The court heard Cava “took issue with another man from that group” before a heated argument ensued. Cava then “lunged forward and threw a punch”.

Magistrate Freund said then “all hell broke loose between the men, with the other group far outnumbered by Cava’s”.

The fight took place outside Harbourside Shopping Centre in the early hours of February 22, 2021.

After obtaining and analysing CCTV footage, police were able to identify and track down Cava. He was initially refused bail before it was granted on “essentially house arrest terms”, the magistrate said.

Under the bail conditions, Cava wasn’t allowed out of his home without his mother present, the court heard.

“The government takes this sort of offence very seriously,” the magistrate said.

“It causes fear to the people around you. Any more violence will land you back in custody.”

As a deterrent to himself and in general, Cava was convicted and fined by the magistrate.