Langwarrin thug Darren Brooker bashed his ex’s new ‘feminine boyfriend’ in birthday fight
A Langwarrin concreter wasn’t happy with the way his former partner and her new man were treating his daughter on her 19th birthday, so he took the law into his own hands.
South East
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An angry thug bashed his ex-partner’s new “feminine boyfriend”, punching, pushing and throwing him around a garden, a court has heard.
Darren Robert Brooker attacked the woman’s lover following an alcohol-fuelled row after his daughter’s 19th birthday celebrations turned sour.
The new beau was left with a cut eye, a split lip and a cut and bloodied nose after the front yard fracas.
The 45-year-old Langwarrin self-employed concreter pleaded guilty to unlawful assault at the online Frankston Magistrates’ Court on November 13.
He also admitted to several breaches of an intervention order after he continually rang and texted abusive messages to his ex.
The court heard Brooker went to the woman’s Botanic Ridge home about 11.30pm on March 30, 2019.
He walked up to the porch where the new lover was stood and launched into a verbal altercation with him.
Things then turned violent and Brooker pushed the victim into a door, knocked him to the ground and punched him in the face.
He then pulled him up and threw him into the garden before pushing him down, hitting him in the face again.
Brooker calmed down and left, and an ambulance came to treat the victim’s injuries.
He was arrested a few days later but gave police a “no comment” interview.
Brooker also repeatedly texted, rang and emailed abusive messages to his ex in February and March 2019, including labelling her new man a “feminine boyfriend”.
Before they split Brooker and the woman had been together for 22 years and have three children together.
His defence lawyer said he went to the woman’s home because he was concerned about his daughter’s welfare.
She said the woman and the new man had been drinking heavily while celebrating her daughter’s 19th birthday at Crown, but things had turned frosty back at the house.
She said the daughter rang her dad saying she wanted to leave and he went there to help her, but “everything escalated” and he got in a fight with the man.
She said he was extremely remorseful for his out-of-character behaviour and requested a community corrections order not be imposed as he was moving to NSW to run a hotel business.
Magistrate Angela Bolger questioned why Brooker acted the way he did, saying he could have taken other approaches to deal with the situation.
“Why didn’t he say to the daughter ‘get an Uber and come to my place’ or ask her to come outside where he was waiting?” Ms Bolger said.
“Instead he had the confrontation at the house.
“I don’t find him blameless, he could have reasonably assumed that (the fight) would happen.”
Brooker was convicted and fined $1200.
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