Gairy St Clair: Professional boxer, gym owner sentenced for security guard assault

A lawyer has claimed a magistrate’s harsh sentence over a security guard punch was because his client was a former professional boxer. Find out what happened in court.

Former professional boxer and now trainer Gairy St Clair appeared in Sutherland Local Court on October 11, 2022 where he was sentenced to three months in prison for assaulting a security guard at Chemist Warehouse in Miranda in 2021. Picture: Ashleigh Tullis

A man jailed for a minor assault on a pharmacy security guard believes a magistrate unfairly sentenced him because he was a professional boxer.

Gairy St Clair, 47, appeared in Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to three charges of not wearing a face mask, assault and remaining in inclosed lands.

St Clair, who owns and runs a Gairy St Clair Gym for boxing and fitness in Gymea, is a former IBF and IBO Junior Lightweight World Champion.

Magistrate Paul Lyon sentenced St Clair to three months in prison over the incident.

“This is a clear case of injustice,” St Clair’s lawyer Lovemore Ndou said outside of court. “Gairy wasn’t sentenced on the facts. He was sentenced for being a boxer.”

Former professional boxer Gairy St Clair (right) with Lovemore Ndou have appealed the sentenced. Picture: Ashleigh Tullis

“I don’t think the magistrate even bothered to read the facts further. As soon as he read Gairy was a boxer, he made his judgment straight away.”

Agreed facts tendered to court said St Clair went to Chemist Warehouse in Miranda on September 2 last year about 11.40am wearing a face mask that was not correctly covering his nose.

Britain's Amir Khan (left) throws a punch at Gairy St Clair of Australia during their Commonwealth lightweight title boxing match at the ExCel Centre in London in 2008.

A security guard asked him to pull it up over his nose because it was the law, which St Clair did, before he continued to walk through the store and his mask fell down again.

The guard again asked him to cover his nose but he did not before saying, “let’s go outside … so I can fix you up”, documents state.

St Clair walked up to and stood close to the guard who asked him to get away and told him to go outside three times before the guard put his hands on St Clair’s waist and used them to guide him outside, court documents said.

This prompted St Clair to punch the guard in the jaw, ear and forehead at least four times.

The guard ran inside before St Clair followed but left after another employee told him to exit the store.

The incident was captured on CCTV and police were called, before St Clair went to the police station.

In an interview, St Clair admitted to punching the guard, telling police, “he pushed me, what else was I supposed to do? It was self defence. I’m a fighter, I punched him”.

St Clair denied saying “let’s go outside so I can fix you up” and claimed he suffered from hayfever and could not breath while wearing a mask, but had no medical exemption.

The court heard the victim sustained a small scratch to his face and a small lump on his head, with the police prosecutor conceding the man’s injuries were at the “lower end of the scale”.

Professional boxers (L-R) Gairy St. Clair, Sakio Bika and Billy Dib arrive to speak to the media during a Black Lives Matter protest at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney in 2020. Picture: AAP Image/Joel Carrett

Mr Ndou said his client was remorseful after pleading guilty on the day of his hearing.

He said St Clair did not make excuses for his behaviour and apologised to the victim, noting he knew he should have left when asked to by the guard.

As a way of explanation, Mr Ndou said his client’s business had been shut down due to Covid, he was under stress in his marriage and had an eight-month old baby.

He said St Clair was involved in the community and taught schoolchildren self defence classes.

Magistrate Lyon was concerned about how St Clair had taken up the court’s time when he pleaded guilty on the day of the hearing.

He noted St Clair was a professional fighter, adding a pharmacy was where elderly people and the general public went to get medication.

“Clearly being a professional fighter and you teach boxing, your hands are somewhat of a tool,” he said.

He sentenced St Clair to three months in jail, which will expire on January 10, 2023.

Boxers Gairy St Clair and Lovemore Ndou fought each other in 2012.

Mr Ndou immediately lodged an appeal. Mr Ndou successfully applied for his client to be released on bail pending the outcome of the appeal.

“I have never had a situation where a magistrate refuses to consider an application to adjourn a matter to get a sentence assessment report and obtain subjective material,” he said.

He noted his client had never been in custody, had not breached his bail conditions and had very limited criminal history.

St Clair, after being released from the cells, said he was “very disappointed” in the magistrate’s sentence.

“He didn’t listen to any submissions,” St Clair said. “He just made up his mind and called corrective services to come into court.”

Boxer Gairy St Clair, IBF and IBO super featherweight world champion, training at HK Ward Gym, Sydney University, ahead of his trip to South Africa to defend his title.

St Clair said his proudest achievement in life was becoming an Australian citizen, and could not believe how he was treated.

“I know I did the wrong thing. I was frustrated,” St Clair said. “From the time he heard I was a boxer, everything changed.”

St Clair made his professional debut in Guyana in 1994 and went on to compete in 21 professional boxing contests in Guyana, America and Canada before moving to Australia in 2001 to continue his boxing career, his gym website said.

St Clair won his final professional boxing bout in 2013 before retiring from boxing with a record of 60 bouts before opening his gym in 2017.