Man jailed for ‘accidental’ 20kg weight attack on gym buddy

A man who ‘accidentally’ dropped a 20kg weight on the head of a fellow Top End gym user, fracturing his skull, has been jailed for 19 months. WATCH THE CCTV FOOTAGE.

A MAN who “accidentally” dropped a 20kg weight on the head of a fellow Top End gym user, fracturing his skull, has been jailed for 19 months.

Shane William Ryan, 33, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court, on the day his jury trial was due to begin, to unlawfully causing harm to the other man following the incident in October 2020.

The court heard the two men were both at the Next Level Gym in Rosebery in the early hours of the morning, with the victim lying on a bench on his back using dumbbells.

Justice John Burns said CCTV footage then showed Ryan picking up the 20kg plate and walking towards him.

“The CCTV shows you lurching towards the victim and dropping the weight onto the victim’s head and chest area, causing the victim to fall to the ground from the bench, bleeding from his head,” he said.

“You feigned an injury to your left ankle before you stood up and walked away before returning to the victim and then calling an ambulance.”

Justice Burns said the man had suffered a fractured skull, a cut to his eyebrow and swelling to his face as well as “significant and ongoing” emotional effects, after the pair had previously been “amicable” and “friendly”.

“The emotional effect of this incident on the victim has been heightened by the fact that your attack upon him was without apparent motive and in circumstances where the two of you had previously had amicable relations,” he said.

“The act of dropping a 20kg weight onto the head of the victim was an extremely dangerous act.

“The victim was vulnerable as he was lying on his back and had weights in his hands, he was unable to protect himself — he also had no reason to believe that you would attack him as you did.”

Justice Burns said while there was no evidence of “significant premeditation or planning” and Ryan had assisted the victim after the attack and called an ambulance, it was difficult to assess his level of remorse.

“The lack of an obvious motive for you to have engaged in this offence is troubling,” he said.

“Where there is obvious motive for an offence it is often possible to assess the likelihood of the offender reoffending.

“That is simply not possible in circumstances where there is no obvious motive and you have chosen not to shed any light on that issue.”

In setting a non-parole period of 10 months, Justice Burns said while Ryan maintained he had injured the other man “accidentally”, he had accepted that his actions were deliberate for the purpose of his guilty plea.