December 19, 2013
A 20-year-old man who king hit a 51-year-old man standing near a Kingaroy taxi rank in the early hours of November 23 was sentenced to six months’ jail in Kingaroy Magistrates Court today but then released on immediate parole.
Zack Dylan Bleakley, from Kingaroy, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm.
The court was told Bleakley’s victim was measured at Level 3 on the Glasgow Coma Scale when he was taken to Kingaroy Hospital.
“Fifteen is normal and one is dead,” Police Prosecutor Sgt Wayne Bushell said.
The man was put in an induced-coma and flown to Brisbane but has since made a full recovery.
A witness statement by a taxi driver who was waiting at the rank was tendered to the court.
The taxi driver said he saw Bleakley “dancing around with his fists up” like he wanted to have a fight. There were about 20 or 30 people on the footpath outside the hotel at the time.
He said he then saw Bleakley hit the older man, who had his back turned, on the head.
“The old fellow dropped down to the ground like he was unconscious. He did not move,” the statement said.
Solicitor Andrew Kelly, for Bleakley said his client had been drinking shots and could not remember the incident.
He said when police apprehended Bleakley two hours later he was “basically unconscious asleep” outside the Suncorp Metway bank in Haly Street.
“He blew 0.168 at 2:40am, some two hours later,” Mr Kelly said.
He estimated Bleakley must have over 0.2 at the time of the incident.
He said his client did not have a propensity for violence and didn’t “go around getting into fights regularly”, rather it was a case where Bleakley had got to a level of intoxication that was “outside his control”.
Mr Kelly said the incident had placed a stress on Bleakley’s relationship with his girlfriend because she could not contact him for several hours and was “gravely concerned”.
“The relationship of two and half years is at a turning point at the moment,” Mr Kelly said.
Magistrate Barry Barrett said self-induced intoxication was never a defence.
“This type of behaviour is becoming rather prevalent. Kingaroy is not isolated from the rest of the State or the rest of Australia,” Mr Barrett said.
He said Bleakley was fortunate that his victim had made a full recovery.
A conviction was recorded.
