Hugh Hartshorne: Photographer facing jail for Culburra butcher attack

A professional photographer may be facing a prison sentence after he attacked a small-town butcher with a meat hook following a fiery feud over carparking.

A professional photographer may be facing a prison sentence after he attacked a small-town butcher with a meat hook following a fiery feud over carparking.

Hugh Hartshorne, a south coast man known for his talent behind the camera lens angrily confronted a news photographer outside court where he will be sentenced for a brutal attack inside a butcher shop on the state’s south coast.

Hartshorne outside Downing Centre Court. Picture: NCA NewsWire

The court heard in July last year, Hartshorne felt he was being eyeballed by butcher Graham Triffit as he arrived in their shared carpark at Culburra Beach and decided to take action.

The photographer pulled out a wooden umbrella stand and walked behind the counter of the shop and began smacking the butcher with the makeshift weapon after an argument broke out.

As the pair wrestled on the ground, Hartshorne grabbed a meat hook and hit Mr Triffit on the face causing a cut, before he gouged at the eye.

The photographer didn’t like being the photo subject. Picture: NCA NewsWire

A knife was pulled by Mr Triffitt before a customer encountered the bizarre scene, called triple-0 and enlisted the help of two bystanders to pin Hartshorne down before police arrived.

At Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday, the crown prosecutor urged for a full-time prison sentence to be handed down on the photographer as he had little remorse and insight into his actions.

In an application to have the charges dismissed on mental health grounds, the court heard of the mental health backdrop of Hartshorne’s wild actions with a series of life events leading to the photographer being diagnosed with a post-traumatic stress disorder.

Hartshorne had also been receiving antidepressants to manage depression in the lead up to butcher shop incident.

Magistrate Kennedy ruled the incident was too serious to be dealt with on mental health grounds and adjourned the sentence for a home detention assessment to take place, to determine if the photographer could serve a jail sentence at home.

Hartshorne will be sentenced on the charges of reckless wounding and enter dwelling with intent to commit indictable offence in July.