Man who allegedly beat another man unconscious for slapping a woman headed for Supreme Court

A MAN who allegedly beat another man unconscious after seeing him slap a woman near Darwin’s nightclub strip said the victim ‘deserved it’, a court has heard

Tony Allan Simpson leaves the Darwin Local Court on bail

A MAN who allegedly beat another man unconscious after seeing him slap a woman in the early hours of the morning near Darwin’s nightclub strip said the victim “deserved it”, a court has heard.

Tony Allan Simpson, 22, appeared in the Darwin Local Court on Wednesday where Chief Judge Elizabeth Morris ruled there was enough evidence to send the case to the Supreme Court.

Court documents released to the NT News reveal police allege Simpson was walking with co-offender Liam Pollard, 20, on Shadforth Ln at about 3.10am on August 24 last year when they came across the victim and his girlfriend “having a heated argument”.

Police say they saw the man slap his girlfriend in the face and Pollard allegedly responded by pushing him over and kicking him before Simpson allegedly punched him twice in the face, rendering him unconscious.

The man then fell to the ground motionless where Pollard and Simpson allegedly continued to kick and punch him before leaving, yelling out “Sorry, he deserved it”.

The woman screamed for help from a passing car and an ambulance took the man to the Royal Darwin Hospital where he was placed in an induced coma as a result of a serious brain injury.

“The victim suffered multiple bleeds and swelling to the brain, three fractures to the skull and a broken jaw, which was fractured on both sides,” the court documents read.

Police caught up with the pair at the Darwin city McDonald’s and Simpson allegedly admitted to punching the man “to stop ‘a female being bashed’”.

In an interview with police, Simpson allegedly said he punched the victim after seeing him “throw his girlfriend to the ground and start punching her”.

“I wasn’t trying to put him in hospital, I just tried to stop him doing what he was doing,” he is quoted in the documents as saying.

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“I watched my mum getting bashed by my dad when I grew up and just blacked out seeing that. It just reminded me of stuff I used to see when I was younger.”

Police searched Simpson during his arrest and allegedly found 15 MDMA pills and he later allegedly told them he was “holding them for a mate” and they were “for personal use”.

Simpson did not enter a plea and Pollard returns to the Local Court for a further committal hearing next month.