Family ‘astounded’ video of one-punch attack not shown in court

Video of a violent attack during Schoolies Week was not shown in court.

The mother of a teen punched unconscious at the Gold Coast schoolies festival is “astounded” a video of the brutal assault was not played in court, despite it going viral beforehand.

Tasha Tardrew said the family was told there was no need to attend court last week and ­“naively believed justice would be served” for the attack on her son Taliesin Tardrew-O’Meara.

Southport magistrate Joan White on Friday sentenced New Zealand-born man Caleb Maraku to 12 months’ probation and did not record a conviction over the assault.

Maraku, 19, presented in court as remorseful but walked out laughing and posed for selfies in front of TV cameras, with his behaviour and the sentence sparking community anger.

The Australian yesterday reported Ms White had repeatedly been accused of inadequate ­sentences and was the subject of numerous appeals by police.

Ms Tardrew said the assault threatened her son’s baseball ­career and had taken a financial toll, with the Queensland government sending him a $1200 ambulance bill.

The disturbing footage of her son being knocked out cold “went viral almost immediately” after the assault, she said.

“My family and I were dis­appointed with the outcome as we believed the severity of the crime deserved a greater penalty,” she said yesterday.

“We were astounded when we found out that the video footage was not used as evidence and that the fact he was previously banned from the area was of no consequence and did not seem to have any bearing on him receiving a conviction.”

Police last night said in a statement that “the facilities to present the footage to the court were not available”.

Maraku and two other men were leaning against a wall when Mr Tardrew-O’Meara, 19, walked past with a female friend in Surfers Paradise in November.

One man with Maraku was telling people to “move along” and Mr Tardrew-O’Meara’s female friend mimicked him. There was a minor verbal altercation before Maraku punched Mr Tardrew-O’Meara as he tried to back away.

The police facts, believed to have been read in court, state Mr Tardrew-O’Meara lost consciousness and dropped heavily to the pavement, striking his head on the concrete.

Maraku, a scaffolder, had been drinking on the night and had no previous history of violence, the court was told.

His social media profiles have been inundated with abusive and threatening messages since he faced court, with local boxing promoter Jamie Myer challenging him on Facebook to step into the ring. “Sort it out I’ll come down 100%,” Maraku replied.

He has been ordered to pay $361 in medical compensation.

Maraku moved to Australia in 2012. Home Affairs, which has discretionary powers to cancel visas of people who pose a risk to the community, is understood to be looking at the case.

Ms Tardrew said she did “not believe jail was necessarily the only answer”, calling for offenders to meet victims to understand the ramifications of their actions: “As soon as you decide to ­coward-punch someone, whether they live or die, a heinous crime against that person has been committed.”