Ashley Richards guilty of GBH after fight at Palm Beach home which left man with broken jaw

A court has heard about a jealous Gold Coast removalist’s “disturbed” phone calls to his girlfriend in the lead-up to a violent brawl that left a man with serious injuries.

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A JEALOUS removalist made “disturbed” phone calls to his girlfriend when she was drinking with her brother before coming to his Palm Beach home and starting a brawl.

The fight left a man with a broken jaw in two places.

Ashley Richards’ attack was described in the Southport District Court as “not completely out of the blue”.

Judge David Kent said: “It was the punctuation mark after hours of disturbed phone calls where you were pursuing your girlfriend and others throughout the evening.”

The 26-year-old pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of grievous bodily harm.

Judge Kent sentenced him to two years prison to be released on parole on June 17.

Richards was also given until February 2022 to pay the victim $15,000 in compensation.

“We can’t have people attacking people and breaking their jaws,” he said.

The court was told Richards girlfriend had gone drinking with her brother and his best friend on August 4, 2018.

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Throughout the night Richards repeatedly called the woman in fits of jealousy.

At about 2am on August 5, 2018 the woman’s brother took the phone off the woman and had a verbal argument with Richards.

During that argument he let slip where they were.

The court was told Richards and a friend arrived at the Palm Beach home and started a fight with the woman’s brother.

The other man in the woman’s group tried to calm the fight down.

That was when he was struck in the face, breaking his jaw in two places.

Since the incident the man has had two surgeries and may need to undergo the knife a third time.

The court was told it could not be determined if it was Richards or Richards’ friend who hit the man.

Defence barrister Alastair McDougall, instructed by Jason Grant Lawyers, said Richards had a drug problem.

He said at the time of the incident Richards was grieving the loss of his daughter a few months earlier.

Mr McDougall said since the fight Richards had undergone anger management counselling.

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