By JOLENE OGLE
AN APPRENTICE carpenter has been sentenced to 18 months probation following an attack the magistrate labelled a “dog act”.
Dominic Reece Bryham, 19, pleaded guilty on Tuesday in Noosa Magistrates Court to kicking another man in the face during a fight after the Golden Days Festival in Coolum, November last year.
The court heard the two men engaged in “verbal banter” on the Festival courtesy bus before engaging in what Police Prosecutor Sergeant Shane Raison labelled a “consensual fight” when the bus dropped them off outside a Coolum venue.
Sgt Raison said Bryham punched the complainant in defence when the man approached him, before hitting the man up to seven more times.
Bryham was charged with assault occasioning bodily harm. Sgt Raison said the offence occurred when Bryham kicked the man in the face while he was on the ground in an “altered state of consciousness” and “defenceless”.
The victim reported he had a broken eye socket, fractured nasal septum and contusions to the face as a result of the fight.
When sentencing, Magistrate Simon Young took into account the fact Bryham didn’t instigate the fight, but said his decision to kick the victim in the head while on the ground was “un-Australian” and “disgraceful”.
“Why you would be possessed to kick someone in the head on the ground is a mystery,” he said.
Magistrate Young said he accepted the attack was a “momentary act of madness”.
“What you did was a dog act.
“I accept you agree with that,” he said.
“I hope you have learnt your lesson through this experience, but I have my doubts.”
Bryham was sentenced to 18 months probation and ordered to pay $500 restitution to his victim. No conviction was recorded.
