Bouncer loses licence after punching drunk man who attacked his own wife at the pub

A BOUNCER who knocked out a punter after he attacked his own wife when the pair were thrown out of a Top End pub has lost his security guard’s licence but avoided any jail time

Moses Latu pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to negligently causing serious harm to a man he ejected from the Walkabout Tavern last year.

A BOUNCER who knocked out a punter after he attacked his own wife when the pair were thrown out of a Top End pub has lost his security guard’s licence but avoided any jail time.

Moses Latu, 36, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to negligently causing serious harm after he “overreacted” to the man kicking his wife in the head on September 12 last year.

The court heard the man and his wife were drinking at Nhulunbuy’s Walkabout Tavern when Latu removed first the woman and then her husband from the premises at about 9.45pm.

The woman was sitting on the steps when the man became upset at being ejected from the pub and took it out on her by kicking her to the back and head and she fell to the ground.

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Latu saw the incident from inside the tavern and came out and saw the man continuing to swear at his wife and pushed him back into the car park.

The two men began walking towards each other, the victim’s hands down by his sides, when Latu punched him in the head causing him to fall backwards, hit his head on the bitumen and lose consciousness.

Latu tried to wake the man with a slap to his face and a short time later he regained consciousness and grabbed a woman who was trying to help him by her clothing “in an aggressive manner”.

Latu then grabbed the man by the wrist and dragged him along the ground before he again tried to approach his wife and Latu stood between the pair to stop him.

A passing police car was waved down and the man was taken to hospital where he underwent surgery for a broken jaw.

In sentencing Latu to five months home detention, Justice Sonia Brownhill said his conduct “involved such a great falling short of the reasonable standard of care and such a high risk of harm, it merits criminal sanction”.

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“I take into account that the background of the offending involved your efforts to prevent the victim from inflicting further violence on his wife, although noting that at the time of the punch the victim was not approaching his wife,” she said.

“However, you delivered the punch to the victim while acting in your employment as a crowd controller and in that role you are expected to deal with people in public places, including people who may be intoxicated or misbehaving or acting aggressively and threatening violence and the community is entitled to expect you to exercise restraint and control when doing so.”

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