Raymond Talimalie and Anzac Leavai attack two others in Young
Three men — including a regional rugby league player — who bashed two others in an alcohol-fuelled attack and who kept kicking a man even after he was knocked out, say they were provoked.
The Wagga News
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Three men — including a regional rugby league player — who bashed two others in an alcohol-fuelled attack in the Riverina are arguing for leniency, saying they were provoked and acted in self-defence.
Orange Hawks’ player Raymond Talimalie, 26, Anzac Leavai, 21, and a third man, who is not named for legal reasons, appeared via video link in Wagga District Court on Thursday for a sentencing hearing.
The trio had pleaded not guilty to various violence-related charges after two men were left with injuries outside a licensed premises in Young in October 2017.
However, a jury in December last year found Talimalie, of Jerrabomberra, and Leavai, of Bankstown, guilty of affray, causing grievous bodily harm with intent and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company.
The jury also found the third offender guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, assault, affray and common assault.
On Thursday, the court heard witnesses said they did not know how the altercation began other than “hearing the voice of a young lady being raised and then there’s a level of activity that breaks out”.
The court heard the woman caught in the middle of the violence had little recollection of how it started due to being highly drunk.
Crown solicitor Virginia Morgan said Talimalie, who used to live in Young, was the primary offender and the attacks were “ferocious, sustained and vicious” that left the first victim with “a pool of blood in his mouth”.
Ms Morgan said two of the witnesses did not see aggression nor provocation from the first victim and that the three defendants misread the situation because they were “highly intoxicated”.
She also said the jury rejected the defendants’ accounts of how the incident started.
“This is an episode of alcohol-fuelled violence. Their (defendants’) responses were so disproportionate to anything that (the first victim) may have done,” she said.
Ms Morgan said the attack was made worse by the trio’s continual attack on the first victim when he fell to the ground and became unconscious, increasing “the grave risk of death”.
Another man was then assaulted after he stepped in to try to stop the barrage of kicks, the court heard.
Talimalie’s defence barrister Roland Keller said it was conceded the injuries Talimalie caused to the first person were severe.
He also said “we can’t step away” from the jury’s finding that Talimalie, who is now barred from playing rugby league, punched the second victim.
However, Mr Keller said the injuries were not substantial and ongoing.
He said Tamilalie remembered being “clocked or hit and was a bit dazed thereafter and that his brother had told him that Mr Leavai reacted because he saw Ray hit”.
Mr Keller said Talimalie had good prospects of rehabilitation and has strong support from his family and the club.
The court heard Talimalie is also facing deportation to New Zealand; however, NSW courts cannot take this into account when sentencing.
Leavai’s defence barrister Michael McColm conceded his client inflicted serious injuries to one of the victims but said the offences happened “in a very short space of time”.
He asked Judge Gordon Lerve to find there was provocation and excessive self-defence, saying Leavai got involved because he saw one of the victims first punching Talimalie from behind.
Mr McColm also said his client had no prior criminal record, is of good character and has shown remorse.
Jon Michie, the barrister representing the third offender, said his client’s violence was not premeditated and that no weapons were used.
Judge Lerve has reserved his sentences and the matters are scheduled for mention in Wagga District Court on April 20.