Bojangles saloon to remain dry for 48 hours after serving a drunk man four times in 30 minutes

CCTV footage shows the man holding onto the saloon door before letting go, causing it to hit a woman in the face and almost immediately after, falling off a bar stool and onto the floor.

Bojangles staff served a drunk man four times within 30 minutes, a tribunal has ruled.

ALICE Springs watering hole Bojangles will be forced to close its doors for 48 hours after the Liquor Commission found staff served a drunk man four times within half an hour.

CCTV footage tendered to the tribunal showed the man “appeared well and his gait was normal” when he and three other men arrived at Bojangles and purchased shots of whiskey and premix stubbies shortly after 11pm on March 22 last year.

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Within 15 minutes, the man had finished his stubby and then “bumped into the bar and had to grab onto it to avoid falling backwards”.

Minutes later, the man was talking to a security guard and holding onto the saloon door when he let it go, hitting a woman in the face and almost immediately after, proceeded to fall off a bar stool and onto the floor.

Five minutes later he bought another shot and knocked over a drink and then bought another shot and another stubby, which he dropped onto the bar and the employee who served him picked it up for him.

He then dropped the stubby again and another man picked it up for him and then dropped a cup of water on the ground and knocked and empty glass off a counter.

At 11.45pm, the man “rested his head on his hand and appeared asleep” as an employee collected his glass and he again knocked his stubby off the counter and onto the ground.

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Soon after, an employee noticed him knock over a bar stool and had the security guard escort him outside where he vomited onto the footpath at 11.56pm.

“There is a noticeable decline in (the man’s) outward behaviour between when he entered Bojangles at 11pm to when he was removed at 11.47pm,” the commissioners wrote.

“The noticeable behaviour indicating (he) was drunk was observed by Bojangles employees on at least four separate occasions.”

In upholding the complaint, the tribunal suspended the business’s liquor licence for a 48 period from 11.30am on February 21.

The commissioners did not hold licensee Antony Zaki Habib personally responsible for the breach of the Liquor Act but noted his “dismal record”, including an incident in which a drunk patron was found unconscious on the footpath outside the venue a month earlier.

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“In this case, given the licensee’s history of non-compliance … the commission considers that specific deterrence is an important factor,” they wrote.

“Not only should the action taken send a message to other licensees, but action is warranted that sends a message to Mr Habib.”