November 26, 2012
A 37-year-old man has narrowly escaped going to jail after a “wild west”-style brawl in a mining camp left two men nursing minor injuries.
Jay Lee Wadsworth pleaded guilty in Kingaroy Magistrates Court on Thursday to two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm after a fight at Blackwater.
Police Prosecutor Sgt Wayne Bushell said the two male victims – aged 41 and 48 – and the defendant worked as chefs at a mining camp.
At 9:15am on September 5, Wadsworth had walked into the kitchen with a beer in his hand. He was annoyed that one of the men had complained to management that he had not “prepped” enough food for the next shift.
A fight erupted and Wadsworth punched the 41-year-old on the side of his face. The second man injured his arm on a dishwasher as he attempted to drag Wadsworth, who was “thrashing around”, out of the kitchen.
As a parting gesture, Wadsworth picked up a plastic bottle of golden syrup and threw it, yelling “I’m going to kill you”.
“This was an incident that obviously got way out of hand,” Sgt Bushell said.
“It’s a bit like the wild west when you have punch-ups in a kitchen over food.”
Sgt Bushell said Wadsworth had been taken to Blackwater Hospital for treatment to injuries he had sustained in the fight but had left on foot before he could be treated.
Solicitor Mark Werner, for Wadsworth, said that as a result of the punch-up, his client had lost his job at the mine and was now living with his parents in Nanango.
“He was employed as a duty chef and had to supervise a staff of five and provide meals for up to 600 people,” Mr Werner said.
He said the environment of a mining camp was different to a town. Wadsworth had been drinking heavily the night before as he was anticipating being able to have a long sleep-in because the next day he was rostered off. Instead, he had been woken up by a supervisor who had spoken to him about not doing enough food preparation.
“He cracked the beer as a hair of the dog and went down to the kitchen to confront the other duty chef who had made the complaint,” Mr Werner said.
Wadsworth believed the complaint was unfair because the kitchen was down two staff members.
“He accepts he did over-react but at the time he wasn’t at his best,” Mr Werner said.
Magistrate Mark Bucknall stood the matter down and remanded Wadsworth in custody in the police cells while he could consult sentencing precedents.
Wadsworth was brought back before the court about six hours later.
Mr Bucknall said the message needed to get through that assaults wouldn’t be countenanced by the courts, and can lead to tragic consequences.
“My first thought was to send you to jail,” Mr Bucknall told Wadsworth.
“The message needs to get out to the community that this type of behaviour won’t be tolerated.”
The fact that the assault had occurred in a mining camp made no difference, he said.
Mr Bucknall placed Wadsworth on 12 months probation and ordered him to perform 100 hours community service.
