Council contractor Karl Kenneth Somers not guilty of alleged assault with whipper snipper

A Gold Coast father and council contractor has been cleared of assaulting another man with a whipper snipper. Read what happened.

A Gold Coast council contractor has been cleared of attacking a man with a whipper snipper, telling a court the alleged victim was “abusive” and walked into the path of the gardening power tool.

Karl Kenneth Somers was charged with assault occasioning bodily harm over an incident at Molendinar on April 18.

It was alleged that Mr Somers, who was working with the whipper snipper near the Smith St overpass in Molendinar around 6.30am, ended up in a confrontation with a bystander, Timothy Michael Green.

The prosecution alleged that during the altercation Mr Somers said “move or I’ll cut ya” before assaulting Mr Green with the power tool and causing cuts to his legs.

Mr Somers, who represented himself in court, maintained his innocence and alleged Mr Green was the aggressor and the injuries were a result of him walking into the path of the whipper snipper.

The case was listed for trial with Mr Green and the arresting police officer called to give evidence at a hearing, alongside Mr Somers.

Karl Kenneth Somers found not guilty of alleged assault on man with whipper snipper. Picture: Charlton Hart.

The court was told Mr Green behaved in a “hostile” manner, approaching Mr Somers and yelling at him to stop working due to the noise.

“He (Green) approached me from behind on foot with erratic behaviour, waving his hands and yelling,” Mr Somers told the court.

“(I) stopped working and attempted to gain an understanding of the situation. I explained I’d been given permission to work at this time.

“The man started to get abusive, threatened to fight me with his fists clenched and teeth grit.”

Mr Somers told the court he attempted to diffuse the situation saying: “Are you going to fight me for doing my job?

“His exact response was ‘yeah I’m going to kill you d***head. I assumed from his behaviour he was intoxicated.

“I did say p*** off idiot.”

Mr Somers said he told Mr Green he was going to get back to work and took a few steps towards his whipper snipper, picking it up and clipping it to his waist harness before attempting to start it.

“(I) saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I look up and his (Green’s) right fist is about 2 to 3 centimetres from my eyes and the trimmer cord was (contacting) up his right leg,” Mr Somers told the court.

Mr Somers said he felt relieved after the Judgement in court. Picture: Charlton Hart.

There were no witness to the altercation, and it wasn’t captured on CCTV.

“The evidence really comes down to, in this case, the competing version of both men,” Magistrate Nerida Wilson said in summing up the trial.

“Mr Somers was not legally represented and he cross examined Mr Green and I note at this juncture he did a very good job considering his lack of legal training. Just as he has done with his own summary of the case.

“I accept and find that there was no intention by Mr Somers using his whipper snipper to connect with any part of the body of Mr Green or cause the injuries sustained.”

In explaining her decision, Magistrate Wilson found Mr Somers to be a witness of “truth” and “credit” when giving his evidence to the court.

“I find at all times that Mr Green was the protagonist,” Magistrate Wilson said.

“It’s not known why Mr Green, after being told to move on, did not do so. He had no business to bail up Mr Somers.

“I find he (Somers) did all he could to de-escalate the situation.”

Magistrate Wilson found Mr Somers not guilty of assault occasioning bodily harm and he was formally discharged.