Brodie Aaron Bishop pleads guilty to serious assault of bottle shop worker

A lawn mowing company manager has been barred from entering his regional city’s watering hole after an attack which had “no place in a civilised society”.

Brodie Aaron Bishop, 28, pleaded guilty in Gympie Magistrates Court Tuesday to the serious assault of a person over 60 in the hours after he had been drinking and celebrating at the company’s Christmas party on November 4, 2023.

The manager of a lawn mowing company has been banned from a popular pub and its bottle shop after bashing a 71-year-old worker while out celebrating his office Christmas party.

Brodie Aaron Bishop, 28 of Curra, pleaded guilty in Gympie Magistrates Court on Tuesday to the serious assault of a person over 60, which occurred in the hours after he had been drinking and celebrating on November 4, 2023.

The court heard Bishop was at the Celebrations Bottle Shop attached to Charlie’s Hotel, on Nash St, when he became involved in a verbal altercation with the victim.

During this fight the 71-year-old was accidentally knocked over when a witness tried to intervene.

Bishop then drove his knees into the man’s back while he was on the ground and punched him five times in the head while he was “prone and defenceless”, the court was told.

Police prosecutor Christie Mahoney said this attack happened on the same night Bishop made a public nuisance of himself and obstructed police while walking towards the Queenslander Hotel.

He was sentenced to 40 hours of community service for those offences with no convictions recorded, the court heard.

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Gympie magistrate Bevan Hughes ordered Brodie Aaron Bishop to perform 240 hours of community service, pay $500 compensation to the victim, and barred him from entering or going near Charlie’s Hotel or its Cellarbrations bottle shop until February 26, 2025.

Defence lawyer Jaimee Burns said Bishop, the father of a young child, was “embarrassed” and “remorseful” for his actions which were “entirely out of character”.

He had no previous criminal record, the court heard, and he offered to pay the victim $500 in compensation.

Mrs Burns said Bishop’s business had lost a contract with an aged care home as a result of media coverage of those other two offences.

This ultimately cost the business about $40,000, the court heard.

Magistrate Bevan Hughes said Bishop’s violent behaviour was “abhorrent” and had “no place in a civilised society”.

“We’re supposed to be evolving as a species, Mr Bishop,” Mr Hughes said.

He said Bishop’s intoxication was not an excuse.

Mr Hughes told the court a victim impact statement from the 71-year-old revealed he now suffered from anxiety “when approached by younger men” and that he had “lost trust” in that demographic.

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However, as Bishop had no previous history and was unlikely to reoffend, Mr Hughes decided against imprisonment and instead ordered the 28-year-old to perform 240 hours of community service, the maximum allowed under the law.

Bishop was also ordered to pay the compensation, and banned from entering or going near Charlie’s Hotel and the Cellarbrations Bottle Shop until February 26, 2025.

No conviction was recorded.

Originally published as Brodie Aaron Bishop pleads guilty to serious assault of bottle shop worker