Taperoo man charged after Queenstown man dies at Port Pirie West

A Taperoo man has been charged over the incident that left a 40-year-old from Queenstown dead.

The scene in Sayner Court, Port Pirie West. Picture: Dean Martin

A Port Pirie West resident has spoken of her shock and sadness over the death of a man visiting from the north-western Adelaide suburb Queenstown.

Police said the man died from injuries sustained over the long weekend at Sayner Court.

About 10.15am emergency services were called to the property where they found the 40-year- old man, of Queenstown, unconscious.

A Taperoo man, 29, was initially charged with assault that causes harm. But the Queenstown man later died and police said the charges were likely to be upgraded when the accused appeared in court on July 16

A woman, who lives on Sayner Court, a street filled with old fibro housing trust houses, told The Advertiser that there were about 10 men out the front of 2 Sayner Court.

The scene in Sayner Court, Port Pirie West. Picture: Dean Martin

They were drinking beer and Jim Beam after a family funeral, she said, adding arguments kept breaking out in between bouts of loud laughter.

The woman said she saw two men stand up after arguing, with one delivering an upper cut to the other’s chin.

“This knocked him out cold,” the woman, who was horrified by what she had witnessed, said.

“He then began throwing cans at the man’s head as lay on the ground – and all the guys started laughing. I just couldn’t believe it.”

She said the man then kicked the unconscious man in the head and then in the ribs.

By then, she said, the laughter had stopped.

Another man from the neighbourhood ran over and tried to perform CPR.

The woman said when he arrived the man was already dead but that the CPR revived him, before he again stopped breathing.

“Then we had ambulance, police here. When he got into the stretcher you could see the mask re-breather was not inflating. I knew he was dead,” she said.

The woman said Port Pirie was her home and she loved its natural surroundings and fishing but crime was an ongoing problem.

“I feel sad for the victim. That’s somebody’s son. I also feel sad for the guy who did it, he will now waste his life in prison,” she said.

“That’s two wasted lives and a lot of people in the street shaken up for a long time”

Another resident at 2 Sayner Court answered the door but declined to comment.

Originally published as Taperoo man charged after Queenstown man dies at Port Pirie West