Shane Lloyd: Bronte finance analyst headbutted man at East Leagues Club

A successful finance analyst at a big four bank was warned after narrowly escaping conviction for drunkenly headbutting a man who wouldn’t share the pokies. See why being knocked unconscious in response helped his case.

Shane Lloyd leaving Waverley Court.

A successful eastern suburbs businessman was issued a stern warning by a magistrate after he narrowly escaped conviction for headbutting a man at a pub after a drunken exchange turned sour.

Magistrate Jacqueline Milledge warned the Bronte man the situation - which saw him knocked unconscious when the man punched him back in retaliation - could have “unravelled fatally” if events had unfolded differently.

Shane Lloyd, 55, of Maroubra, was sentenced for assault occasioning actual bodily harm at Waverley Local Court on Wednesday.

According to facts tendered to court about 8.48pm on June 15 Lloyd went to East Leagues Club at Bondi Junction with a female companion intending to use the pokies.

However Lloyd discovered another man on the premises had put money into all of the machines so no-one else could use them.

Lloyd was arrested at East Leagues Club at Bondi Junction.

After the man who had commandeered the pokies told his friend to “f--k off”, Lloyd engaged in a “heated conversation” with the man, the facts state, culminating in him pushing the man in the chest and then headbutting him, causing “immediate pain and bleeding.”

The facts state after the man recovered, he retaliated by punching Lloyd in the face, leaving him unconscious on the ground.

Waverley Local Court

When police arrested him and asked him what happened, Lloyd told them “I can’t remember” and at a later interrogation he told police the man “wasn’t stopping, he just wasn’t shutting up.”

Agreed facts tendered to court state Lloyd had drunk about 10 schooners leading up to the incident.

Lloyd’s lawyer told court his client, who is a senior business analyst highly regarded in his field, was “highly remorseful” of his actions.

His client had been drinking prior to the altercation and had both limited his drinking and undertaken a privately-run alcohol program following his arrest, Lloyd’s lawyer said.

However the lawyer argued the court must consider the punishment his client had already suffered by being knocked unconscious for about five minutes by the other man in retaliation for his violent outburst.

Waverley Local Court

Magistrate Milledge agreed, noting that “losing consciousness is a really big deal” and a serious health concern that would be taken into account by the court.

But in delivering her judgment to the banking professional the magistrate took pains to express to the court her disappointment.

“I despair,” Ms Milledge said.

The magistrate agreed the man’s actions in response were “awful” and “indulgent”, but reminded the court that “there are other ways of dealing with it.”

“It unravelled. And it unravelled terribly - and it could have unravelled fatally.”

Ms Milledge did not convict Lloyd of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, but placed him on a conditional release order under the conditions he does not commit further offences and report to court if called.

The magistrate told Lloyd she had been impressed by the letters supporting his good character as well as the man’s “good judgment” in managing the aftermath.

“I don’t think I’ll be seeing you here again, you’ve got too much to lose,” Ms Milledge said.