Mate tells court of footy finals bashing
A victim of alleged thugs, two of them sons of a prominent Melbourne barrister, has told a court how he tried to help his 61-year-old friend as they copped a beating near the MCG.
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Two AFL fans have told of how they feared for their lives after copping a beating outside the MCG during footy finals.
Dominic and Sam Walker, sons of prominent Melbourne barrister Tim Walker, QC, along with mate Benjamin Fitt, are accused of intentionally and recklessly causing injury to David Raeside, 61, and Len Tricarico, 45, in a brawl after the Richmond-Hawthorn qualifying final on September 6 last year.
Mr Tricarico, giving evidence at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court yesterday, described running to Mr Raeside’s side after hearing his distressed cries for help.
“I turned around and there was somebody kicking him,” Mr Tricarico said.
“I took a couple of steps in and pulled him away and told him to run for his life. I kept looking over my shoulder to see if they were following.”
The business acquaintances ran around the corner and hid in a laneway, he said, for about 15 minutes.
But when they returned to Wellington Parade, near the Pullman Hotel, to get a taxi home, Mr Tricarico said they were set upon again. Neither Mr Tricarico or Mr Raeside could explain why they were targeted.
“Three young men started mouthing off at us for some reason,” Mr Raeside said. “I can’t recall what they said. I probably gave them a bit back.”
The pair then have differing accounts of what happened next. Mr Raeside said: “Len wrestled one of the guys to the ground. I jumped on Len to pull him off and say, ‘Let’s go.’”
But then, Mr Raeside said, he was whacked to the head and the next he remembered was being wheeled into hospital.
Mr Tricarico said he never wrestled anyone to the ground and was “charged” at.
“I was scared at the time,” he said. “I saw Dave on the ground with blood all over his head and I just yelled at them, ‘Get off him.’”
Everything after that was “a blur”, he said, as he too was knocked to the ground and mobbed by the group.
The pair denied suggestions by defence lawyers that the dispute was over a taxi.
A witness driving by told the court how he stopped his car after seeing the fight break out and spill on to the road.
“There was already one person on the ground. It was very disturbing as he was getting hit on the head,” he said.
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The witness said he recorded the attack on his phone and provided the footage to police.
The court heard Mr Tricarico and Mr Raeside were both taken to The Alfred hospital with injuries, where they also recorded blood alcohol readings of .188 per cent and .225 per cent, respectively.
Dominic Walker, 27, his younger brother Sam, 24, and Mr Fitt, 27, have each been charged with intentionally and recklessly causing injury, conduct endangering life and causing serious injury in circumstances of gross violence.
The hearing, in which Magistrate Duncan Reynolds will determine if there is enough evidence to commit them to stand trial, continues.