Lachlan Stuckey: Nowra father and son attacked after retaliating to ‘bizarre’ car noise blow-up

A Nowra father and son have landed themselves in court after retaliating against another man who attacked them with a baseball bat. Find out what led to the blow-up.

A Nowra father and son have landed themselves in court after retaliating against another man who attacked them with a baseball bat after a blow-up over the sound of a car exhaust.

Lachlan Stuckey and father Shane Stuckey pleaded guilty at the Nowra Local Court on Tuesday to charges of unlawful entry, offensive behaviour, property damage, and assault.

The 19-year-old suffered significant bruising and swelling to his wrist from being struck with the bat by the victim after attempting to block the assault while outside of the victim’s home.

The frightening melee in North Nowra was labelled by Magistrate Lisa Viney as “bizarre”, having resulted from a disagreement at nearby Grey’s Beach over Lachlan’s car.

Lachlan had been at the beach with friends at around 6pm on January 31 when he was approached by the victim who was aggressive and threatening, according to police facts.

Lachlan Stuckey leaving the Nowra Local Court on August 2, 2022. Picture: Nathan Schmidt

In response to the threats, Lachlan said: “What are you going to do? Hit an underage kid?”

The victim replied: “F****n oath mate, I’ll flog ya, ya stupid c**t”.

Both Lachlan and the victim traded insults, calling each other “f*****s”, before the victim urged Lachlan to exit his vehicle and fight him.

“The victim then hits the rear vision mirror of Lachlan’s car saying; ‘I’ll rip your door off’,” according to the agreed police facts.

“Lachlan gets out of his vehicle and the victim punches him in the head once, then takes another swing that misses.

“The victim continues with his fists up yelling and challenging Lachlan to a fight saying, ‘come on, come on. You do it all the f*****g time’.”

The victim then leaves the beach in his own vehicle but is followed by Lachlan.

On the way to the victim’s house, Lachlan calls his father, Shane, 42, for help.

“Once at the address, the victim gets out of the car and removes a metal pole from his car and swings it threateningly toward Lachlan and another person as Lachlan’s father Shane arrives,” the documents state.

Shane Stuckey was called to help his son, Lachlan Stuckey, after being punched by a man in North Nowra in January. Picture: Nathan Schmidt

“The victim goes back inside his house with Lachlan and Shane approaching the front of the premises, and returns with a baseball bat yelling, ‘come on’, challenging them to fight.”

The victim then struck Lachlan.

Father Shane was also swung at by the victim before Lachlan wrestled away the weapon, striking the victim twice in the ribs and back causing some swelling and bruising.

After the attack, Lachlan used the baseball bat to smash two windows of the victim’s vehicle before leaving the premises with his father.

During sentencing on Tuesday, solicitor Brett Ford told the court Lachlan did not claim the attack was in self defence as he had driven to the victim’s home, but stated that he believed the circumstances of the melee were “very unusual”.

Magistrate Lisa Viney shared that opinion.

“This is extremely bizarre behaviour for someone to react this way to a car that was too loud,” she said.

Ms Viney did not record a conviction for Lachlan, sentencing him to a 12-month conditional release order (CRO).

No conviction was recorded for Shane either, with an AVO put in place for 12 months.

Mr Ford told the court Lachlan did not have a criminal record, while his father had only a single incident on his record from more than 22 years ago which was not violent in nature.

The incident was out of character for the pair, Mr Ford said.

The victim was not charged.