Joel Grubb guilty of common assault outside The Irish Launceston pub

A young Tasmanian man who caused a drunk patron who had been booted from a pub to fall and hit his head on the concrete path didn’t realise cops saw the entire assault. What happened in court.

St Leonards man Joel James Grubb, 26. Picture: Facebook

A young Tasmanian man caused a heavily intoxicated patron who had been ejected from a pub to fall backwards and hit his head heavily on the concrete path in response to allegations the patron had assaulted the defendant’s sister, a court has heard.

St Leonards man Joel James Grubb, 26, pleaded guilty in Launceston Magistrates Court to a charge of common assault.

The court heard the assault happened at about 11.15pm on March 24 outside the Irish, a popular Launceston watering hole on Brisbane St.

Police officers were on the street waiting for the highly intoxicated patron, who had been ejected from the pub, to leave the area when Grubb approached him and “threw him backwards” onto the ground, the court heard.

This caused the patron to hit his head hard on the kerb, requiring observation at the Launceston General Hospital.

Defence lawyer Grant Tucker told the court that the assault was “not necessarily unprovoked,” in that Grubb believed that the complainant had assaulted the defendant’s sister in January.

The pair were somewhat known to each other, as the complainant’s parents had a shack at Stieglitz that neighboured the Grubb family shack.

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Mr Tucker said that the assault occurred in plain view of four to five Tasmania Police officers.

Magistrate Ken Stanton was scathing of the offending.

“Acts of revenge like this are completely and totally unacceptable,” Mr Stanton said.

He told the defendant that the complainant was in a “somewhat vulnerable” due to his level of intoxication and that there was a “very significant risk” that there could have been serious injury or even worse from the offending.

Mr Stanton said that he accepted that it was a “moment of red mist” on Grubb’s behalf.

He recorded a conviction and fined Grubb $600.

Originally published as Joel Grubb guilty of common assault outside The Irish Launceston pub