Monsoons bouncer who allegedly knocked out US Marine ‘was acting in self-defence’, court hears

A Darwin nightclub bouncer who allegedly slapped a US Marine so hard he knocked him out last year was acting in self-defence, a court has heard.

A Monsoons bouncer who allegedly slapped a US Marine so hard he knocked him out last year was acting in self-defence, a court has heard.

Hayden Robert Bruce Summers pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court on Monday to unlawfully causing serious harm to Glen Thomason outside the nightclub in the early hours of April 11.

In his opening address to jurors, Crown prosecutor Ian Rowbottom said CCTV footage of the incident would show Summers knocked Mr Thomason out with a single blow before he dropped to the ground.

Mr Rowbottom said the harm caused to the Marine was not in dispute but the Crown would seek to prove Summers was not justified in slapping him to protect himself.

“We’ve all heard ‘one punch can kill’ and in relation to that, this is a case, essentially, about one punch, or in fact, it wasn’t a punch but a blow,” he said.

Mr Rowbottom said CCTV had captured Mr Thomason speaking to another bouncer, Samisoni Havea, before the pair are seen walking towards the side exit on Nuttall Pl “in an orderly, calm fashion”.

He said Mr Thomason had “been asked to leave” but “instead he tried to go to the toilet” before “a scuffle then occurs” and Mr Havea puts him in a headlock.

While restraining Mr Thomason “in a choke hold”, Mr Rowbottom said Mr Havea is seen lifting him “off his feat” before “he’s dragged out of Monsoons and into Nuttall Place”, and he turns around to speak to Summers.

“He then engages in a conversation, it’s heated, there’s no mistaking that, there’s a lot of arm waving, there’s a lot of pleading, not from anything you can hear but from the obvious body language,” he said.

“At 12.17am, the complainant, on the Crown case, makes what seems to be a frustrated, downwards movement with his right hand, standing about a metre from the accused, who didn’t immediately react at all.

Monsoons bouncer Hayden Summers outside court. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

“He doesn’t at that time take any step backwards, he doesn’t move his body backwards at all, a bit over two seconds later, he in fact moves forwards and strikes a blow to the complainant.

“It’s not with a fist, it seems to be an open right hand strike and that blow connects with the complainant’s head.

“The complainant falls backwards, he makes no attempt whatsoever to brace for impact or protect himself from that fall, his head strikes the road surface and he remains unconscious on the ground for some time.”

In his own address, Summers’ barrister, Peter Maley, said the “fundamental issue” in the trial would be whether his client was acting in self-defence when he “slapped” the Marine.

“You’re really in the box seat to see what happened, there’s clear video footage, no audio but clear video footage, of the incident and you can look at it for yourselves,” he said.

“You may have done something differently, that’s neither here nor there, it’s whether the Crown can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not acting in self-defence.”

The trial continues on Tuesday.