VIDEO: Drunk Logan duo sentenced for Redbank train station assault

The “20 seconds of madness” where a train station worker was so brutally assaulted he was nearly blinded and had to barricade inside a carriage has been captured on CCTV. SEE THE VIDEO

A Redbank train station worker was forced to barricade himself in a train carriage to escape a drunk Logan duo, in “20 seconds of madness” captured in CCTV.

Logan Central resident Jeremiah Fesuluai, 20, pleaded guilty on March 8, 2023, to grievous bodily harm, attempted robbery, smoking on public passenger vehicle, and two counts of creating a disturbance or nuisance.

His co-accused Geovanni Marius, 20 of Slacks Creek, pleaded guilty to the same grievous bodily harm on February 23.

Geovanni Marius leaving this Ipswich courthouse on February 23, 2023. Picture: Nicola McNamara

The court heard Marius and Fesuluai were at Redbank Train Station, on their way to a friend’s house, around 5am on February 20, 2022.

The duo were both intoxicated, having shared a carton of 24 Coronas and a 750ml bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey.

The court heard Fesuluai confronted a commuter, asking for a cigarette.

When he said he didn’t have one, Fesuluai ordered him to empty out his bag and raised his fists.

Train station worker George Thomas Ward was reassuring the commuter when Marius struck him in the head with what Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren described as a “brutal roundhouse kick”.

Both Marius and Fesuluai then struck Mr Ward multiple times, until Mr Ward was able to barricade himself away from them in a train carriage.

At Marius’s sentencing, Judge Dennis Lynch said Fesuluai had challenged Mr Ward to “come out and fight,” but police and ambulance officers soon arrived at the scene and transported Mr Ward to hospital.

Marius spent the next 307 days in custody, and Fesuluai spent the next 381 days in custody awaiting his sentence.

Mr Ward suffered significant injuries including a fractured nose, which required surgery, and ocular hypertension — which court heard could have caused blindness if left untreated.

Fesuluai’s defence barrister Levis Menolotto said his client was ashamed he had “brought shame” to his family.

He acknowledged his client had more charges than Marius, but argued Marius’s role in the grievous bodily harm was more significant.

Jeremiah Fesuluai, captured in CCTV assaulting train station worker George Ward. Picture: Supplied

Mr Menolotto said his client had no criminal history and it was “fairly obvious” Marius’s roundhouse kick was the “most savage blow” and more likely to have caused Mr Ward’s eye injury.

In February, Marius was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, wholly suspended for an operational period of three years, with his time in custody taken into account.

Mr Menolotto argued the extra two and a half months Fesuluai had spent in presentence custody effectively addressed his clients additional charges, and that a similar sentence would be appropriate.

Judge Horneman-Wren said Fesuluai’s behaviour was “very troubling” and a “fairly significant way to kick off a criminal history”.

He noted Fesuluai’s nuisance offences had occurred on a train just six weeks prior to the assault.

“You need to think long and hard about how it is you make sure that you don’t add to that history,” Judge Horneman-Wren said.

“Your 20 seconds of madness has an ongoing effect on a dedicated member of the public.”

Fesuluai was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, suspended immediately for three years.

His 381 days presentence were taken into account but not formally declared, and convictions were recorded for all offences.

Originally published as VIDEO: Drunk Logan duo sentenced for Redbank train station assault