November 21, 2012
A District Court jury in Kingaroy took less than 30 minutes yesterday to acquit a former Nanango resident charged after a fight erupted when another man believed he’d been insulted on Facebook.
Anthony Charles Morley, 19, had been charged with assault occasioning grievous bodily harm and wounding after a woman who had intervened in the fight, which occurred on December 14 last year, suffered a severe cut to her thumb which required micro-surgery to repair.
The Crown alleged Morley had slashed at the woman with a box-cutter or Stanley knife during a scuffle with a male friend of her’s who believed he’d been slighted by Morley on Facebook.
But Morley said he had no knowledge of the Facebook insult and had been sitting quietly in his car when he was suddenly attacked by the angry male, who punched him though the car door and then jumped on top of him in the vehicle, still punching.
Morley managed to kick the man out of his car.
He said he then picked up a paint scraper off the passenger seat and started to go after him.
“It was the dumbest thing I have ever done,” Morley told police in a record of interview.
“Did you think anyone would have suffered any serious injuries if you had not picked up the scraper?” the detective asked.
“Yeah, me. I would have been in a coma,” Morley replied.
Morley said the woman had grabbed hold of the paint scraper in a bid to stop him “from doing something stupid” but at the same time the angry male started punching and kicking Morley again, knocking him to the ground.
During the scuffle the woman suffered the injury to her hand and her angry friend suffered two small cuts to his leg.
The incident occurred while Morley was visiting a friend’s house in Cairns Street, Nanango.
Morley said he had wrapped a towel around the woman’s hand when he realised she had been injured and offered to drive her to hospital but his help had been refused.
Police did not locate the box cutter or paint scraper used in the incident.
