Man denies bashing Origin Energy worker outside Welcome Stranger hotel on basis of self-defence

A Montrose man has pleaded not guilty to bashing an Origin Energy worker outside the Welcome Stranger hotel on the ground of self-defence. IN COURT >>

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A MONTROSE man is on trial for allegedly bashing an Origin Energy terminal operator outside the Welcome Stranger hotel.

Trent Scott Henricks, 41, has pleaded not guilty to a count of assault dating back to December 4, 2019.

He denies he punched Samuel Edwards repeatedly due to the head as he lay on the ground in Harrington Street after the pair had been out for work drinks.

Mr Henricks, who was Mr Edwards’ supervisor, allegedly became angry at a remark made by the latter after a night of drinking beer, eating pizza and playing eight-ball in the Welcome Stranger’s pool room.

In the Supreme Court of Tasmania on Monday, Crown prosecutor Emily Stone said the two men - and two other Origin Energy employees visiting Hobart - had agreed to meet up for work drinks.

She said the night was unremarkable before 10pm, but after that, Mr Henricks and Mr Edwards engaged in a number of altercations during which both swung punches and pushed each other.

But Ms Stone said Mr Henricks “went too far” when he repeatedly punched Mr Edwards to the head as he lay on the footpath outside the hotel, struggling to get up from the ground.

Mr Edwards was left with an eye swollen shut and bleeding to the face.

Mr Henricks doesn’t deny that he punched Mr Edwards, but says he did so in self-defence.

The trial, before Justice Gregory Geason, is expected to run for three days.

Man avoids jail after driving with thousands of dollars of ice

A FATHER-of-six has been sentenced to home detention for trafficking ice after police surveillance busted him driving away from a large-scale transaction at a Hobart hotel.

Patrick Simon Bailey, 42, was sentenced in the Supreme Court of Tasmania this week after pleading guilty to one count of trafficking in methylamphetamine.

Police found him in possession of an ounce of the drug when they stopped the car he was driving on October 18, 2018.

In his published comments on passing sentence, Justice Michael Brett said Bailey was also aware the car contained a large quantity of ice that had been purchased by his passenger.

Bailey had arranged to buy the ounce from his passenger a few days earlier, prepaying him $6000.

On the day of the crime, he drove the man to a Hobart hotel, waiting in the car while the man met two drug dealers inside – both of whom had travelled from the mainland for the transaction.

The man purchased a large quantity of the drug, including the ounce Bailey had paid for.

Justice Brett said Bailey had not been aware that his friend and the two drug dealers were the subjects of a police investigation nor that their meeting had been under surveillance.

Police stopped Bailey and his passenger, finding the drugs shortly after they left the hotel.

“There is no suggestion that you had any wider involvement in the drug trafficking than the purchase of these drugs, and I am expressly informed by the prosecution that you were not a target nor a person of interest in respect of the police operation,” Justice Brett said.

“It is not suggested that you had any intention of further involvement in this drug trafficking, and your only interest was to obtain the one ounce of methylamphetamine that you had purchased.”

Justice Brett said Bailey was mainly intending to use the drug himself, as it would be cheaper to buy it in bulk, but intended to sell some of it to supplement his income.

“I accept that this was your first venture into the purchase of a large quantity of methylamphetamine and also that you did not actually sell any of it,” he said

Justice Brett said the man’s passenger was jailed last year for two years and 10 months, with his purchase having a street value of between $58,500 and $273,900.

Bailey was convicted and sentenced to an 18-month home detention order.

‘Sleazy’ driver fights $45k sexual harassment fine

A “SLEAZY” delivery driver who slapped an Eastlands Sanity worker’s bottom, called her “juicy” and threatened to sue for defamation when she complained has appealed against an order to pay her $45,000 for sexual harassment.

Frayne Higgins represented himself in the Supreme Court of Tasmania on Wednesday, arguing $20,000 of the sum, awarded by the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal of Tasmania last September for aggravated damages, was “manifestly excessive”.

He also argued the tribunal made an error by failing to take into account that his former employer, Toll, had already paid the woman compensation over the same conduct.

Frayne Higgins

Mr Higgins also argued before Chief Justice Alan Blow that parts of the tribunal hearing “were missing” from the audio and transcript, leading to bias or apprehended bias in favour of the former Sanity employee’s case.

“The audio is incorrect,” he told the judge.

“The only person who can put in an order to have this checked is you, Your Honour … to see whether this audio has been doctored.”

Eve Marriott, executive assistant to the tribunal’s chairperson, gave evidence to say the audio could not be changed or altered in any way, but that it was possible there could be a slight delay in the recording at the beginning of proceedings.

According to the tribunal’s decision, the music shop employee lodged a complaint in 2017, alleging that during 2013 and 2014, Mr Higgins would pop up between the racks and scare her, frequently ask whether she had a boyfriend, and call her “juicy”.

She also said he would generally engage in “sleazy, intimidating and favouring behaviour towards her” and on one occasion slapped her bottom when she bent over to check stock he had delivered.

Tribunal member Kate Cuthbertson said the woman received a phone call from Mr Higgins’s wife, demanding to speak with her about the complaint against her husband, and that she later received a letter from Mr Higgins’s lawyer demanding $30,000 for defamation plus a written apology.

The woman’s barrister Craig Mackie said the court could be satisfied the audio and transcript “accurately reflect what was heard at the hearing”.

“The issue of bias in my opinion is no more than a red herring,” he said.

Mr Mackie argued the sum awarded for aggravated damages, given Mr Higgins’s threats to sue the woman for defamation, was not manifestly excessive given the level of “anxiety and distress” she was subjected to.

Chief Justice Blow reserved his decision.

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