Six Tanks rammer’s attackers plead guilty over Mitchell St beating

A man who violently attacked another man in a Mitchell St brawl that ended with the other man ramming him into the Six Tanks brewery with his car has pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.

A MAN who violently attacked another man in a Mitchell St brawl that ended with the other man ramming him into the Six Tanks brewery with his car has pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.

Joseph Travis Hazelbane, 26, faced the Darwin Local Court on Wednesday, where he also pleaded guilty to fighting in a public place following a separate, unrelated Mitchell St scuffle.

His partner, Karlla Maree Garling pleaded guilty in the same hearing to common assault and violent conduct for her role in the fracas that preceded the Six Tanks ramming last December.

Prosecutor Lajita Allan-Agnew said the incident began when Hazelbane and the other man, Dale Talbot, got into a verbal altercation on the nightclub strip in the early hours of December 6.

She said Hazelbane then landed a “glancing blow” to Talbot’s head before Talbot tried to run away but Hazelbane, Garling and the rest of their group gave chase.

Joseph Hazelbane leaves the Darwin Local Court on Wednesday.

Garling then tripped Talbot over with her leg, allowing the rest of the group to catch up with him and Hazelbane started repeatedly stomping on his head “with considerable force”.

Ms Allan-Agnew said Hazelbane continued to punch and kick Talbot as he lay on the ground until passers by were finally able to restrain him and Talbot managed to get up and walk back to his vehicle.

A short time later, Talbot drove towards the group who were now out the front of Six Tanks and who began throwing chairs at his car before he turned sharply and drove straight towards Hazelbane.

“(He) crashed through the front entrance to the building, sending Hazelbane flying through the doors inside the venue,” Ms Allan-Agnew said.

In requesting an adjournment so his clients could be assessed for supervision on a suspended sentence, the couple’s lawyer, Peter Maley, said the incident started as a “consensual fight’ which got out of hand.

Karlla Garling leaves the Darwin Local Court on Wednesday.

“They go to the taxi rank, they’re about to go home, Talbot comes up, you know, he wants to fight and he starts the consensual fight,” he said.

“He wants to fight and he’s roostering up and Joseph Hazelbane engages him and then goes too far and the criminal behaviour occurs.

“Hazelbane goes way too far, he concedes, by virtue of his plea, the kicking, consent did not go that far.”

Talbot was sentenced to four years in jail in May after pleading guilty in the Supreme Court to recklessly endangering his attacker’s lives.

The couple will return to court next year.