Lachlan Paul Richards pleads guilty to Airlie Beach public nuisance
A teenager has been banned from the Airlie Beach party precinct after beating a stranger unconscious over a woman’s exposed backside in an act that shocked partygoers.
Police & Courts
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A 19 year old has been banned from the Airlie Beach party precinct after beating a stranger unconscious in a dispute over respect for women.
Lachlan Paul Richards punched a man 20 times, sending him to hospital with injuries to his jaw, eye socket, knuckles, arm and head, after a confrontation about a woman lying on the ground at a taxi rank near Magnums bar with her skirt pulled up and her bottom exposed.
Proserpine Magistrates Court heard the victim saw Richards tapping the woman with his foot about 2am on September 11, and approached him yelling that he should not be “kicking girls on the ground” and challenging him to a fight.
The court heard Richards punched the man while holding him up against a guard rail, and continued “attacking” him in front of shocked bystanders even as he lay unconscious on the ground.
The Airlie Beach apprentice auto electrician pleaded guilty to committing public nuisance near a licensed premises.
Solicitor Peta Vernon told the court the woman involved was Richards’ brother’s girlfriend and both Richards and his brother had been “playfully” telling the woman to cover herself up when the other “highly intoxicated” man “involved himself in a situation that he need not have”.
Ms Vernon highlighted that it was the other man who initiated the fight and that Richards “didn’t think he knocked him unconscious”.
The court heard the other man was also facing a public nuisance charge as a result of the incident.
Magistrate James Morton said the offending was so serious, he needed to remand Richards overnight to allow more time to decide whether to give him a jail sentence.
When Ms Vernon argued such a sentence would be “excessive” for “a very young man with a very bright future” and no criminal history, Mr Morton replied: “Punching a man 20 times and knocking him unconscious is excessive, don’t you think?”
“This is alcohol-fuelled violence. It’s unnecessary and unwanted, and unacceptable,” Mr Morton said.
“If this falls on deaf ears … When’s he going to stop?”
At Bowen Magistrates Court the following morning, Mr Morton sentenced Richards to pay a $600 fine and banned him from the Airlie Beach Safe Night Precinct for 12 months before releasing him from custody.
No convictions were recorded.
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Originally published as Lachlan Paul Richards pleads guilty to Airlie Beach public nuisance
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