Australia Fair brawl: Cafe owner Charles Hili on good behaviour bond
A 65-year-old cafe owner has been sentenced after a fishing knife and a wooden club were used as a long-running feud with a fellow shopkeeper finally boiled over at one of the Gold Coast’s busiest shopping centres.
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A MILD-mannered cafe owner and outstanding community citizen “lost it” when he went on a violent rampage through one of the Gold Coast’s busiest shopping centres, a court has been told.
Charles Hili, the 65-year-old owner of the Blarney Stone Cafe at Australia Fair, faced Southport Magistrates Court on Tuesday, pleading guilty to two charges stemming from an ugly incident in the shopping centre last August.
Two rival shop owners injured in Australia Fair shopping centre brawl
Hili originally faced six charges, but four were dismissed after he pleaded guilty to one count of public nuisance and one count of assault of a person aged over 60.
The court was told Hili was closing his cafe for the day on August 23 and had shuttered most of the roller doors when he was confronted by an angry Ju Hyung Lee, the owner of a nearby Asian grocery store.
The two shop owners had been involved in a bitter feud for months.
As the argument turned physical, Mr Lee was taken to hospital in an ambulance while a 61-year-old bystander was also injured.
Hili pushed Helga Haefele, who fell to the ground, as he followed Mr Lee out of the cafe and in to the main thoroughfare of the shopping centre.
Ms Haefele did not suffered serious physical injuries, but the court was told she now experiences anxiety and nervous tension when visiting the shops.
Hili was eventually cornered by shopping centre security guards holding a fishing knife, while a wooden club was also used in the incident.
Representing Hili in court, barrister Sarah Thompson said her client had an impressive work history and actively helped homeless and unemployed people in the area and had no criminal history whatsoever.
“My client did not seek to have an argument with Mr Lee,” she said.
She said Hili had since suffered the shame of media coverage and a night in custody in the Southport Watchhouse as well as depression and was now planning to sell the cafe.
Magistrate Andrew Sinclair agreed Hili was “a mature gentleman” who “had lived the kind of life most people would aspire to”.
“You did not go seeking conflict,” he said.
“The fight came to you as it were. (But momentarily) You allowed your good sense to leave you.”
He placed Hili on a good behaviour bond and did not record a conviction.
Outside court, Hili declined to comment on the case or why he had finally snapped.
An allegation Hili assaulted Mr Lee was among four charges dropped by
prosecutors.
Originally published as Australia Fair brawl: Cafe owner Charles Hili on good behaviour bond
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