Maea Tongamoa: Alleged ringleader of six-on-one bashing released on bail

THE alleged ringleader of a six-on-one bashing which left a man naked, bleeding and unconscious on a Darwin road has been released on bail

Maea Tongamoa (white shirt) leaves Darwin's Supreme court after being released on bail.

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THE alleged ringleader of a six-on-one bashing which left a man naked, bleeding and unconscious on a Darwin road has been released on bail.

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Maea Tongamoa, 25, appeared in the Darwin Supreme Court on Thursday where he was granted bail by Justice Jenny Blokland after initially being denied bail in the Darwin Local Court.

He stands charged with acts intended to cause serious harm relating to the alleged attack on Darwin’s Mitchell St alongside five alleged co-offenders, including NTFL players Kian Wise, Karl Gruber and Tayarrah Morris – who is also Tongamoa’s girlfriend.

Justice Blokland said she decided to grant bail to Tongamoa because a medical certificate, tendered in court by his lawyer Peter Maley, showed that the alleged victim of the bashing did not suffer serious harm.

Maea Tongamoa (white shirt) leaves Darwin's Supreme court after being released on bail.

She described this fact as “remarkable when one sees the length of the footage (of the alleged attack) and how long the assault was.”

Therefore, the charge of assault causing serious harm was dropped in favour of the alternate charge of acts intending to cause serious harm, which Crown prosecutor Cecily Hollingsworth said was “made out by the repeated bashing, kicking and punching (of the alleged victim) on a hard surface.”

During Tongamoa’s previous appearance, the court was shown CCTV footage of the alleged incident which allegedly shows Tongamoa kicking the alleged victim in the head even after he had become unconscious and after bystanders attempted to intervene.

If found guilty of the new charge, Tongamoa faces a maximum of life in prison.

Tongamoa was released on the condition that he go and live with family in Nhulunbuy, wear an electronic monitoring device and have no contact with any of the co-accused including his girlfriend.

Tongamoa’s co-accused and girlfriend Tayarrah Morris was released on bail last month.

“The likelihood is high that Mr Tongamoa will receive a period to serve in custody. Given the significant charge that is going to be laid it may well take some time to resolve,” Justice Blokland said in providing reasons for her decision.

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“No doubt that time in custody has had a somewhat sobering effect on him.”

Tongamoa and his co-accused will return to court on March 10.