February 25, 2016

A 61-year-old Kingaroy man pleaded guilty in Kingaroy Magistrates Court on Monday to one charge of common assault after an incident which occurred at the South Burnett Regional Council meeting on January 21.

Dafyd Kerri Martindale, CEO of South Burnett Online, pleaded guilty to assaulting Grant Douglas Newson, from Brooklands.

Police Prosecutor Sgt Wayne Bushell told the court Mr Newson attended the Kingaroy Police Station on January 22 saying he had been assaulted at the South Burnett Regional Council Chambers in Kingaroy the previous day.

Sgt Bushell said Mr Newson had complained that Martindale had entered the Council Chambers about 9:15am, approached him where he was sitting at a front table, slapped him across the face, bent down and said “you’re a f**king arsehole”.

About an hour later, after the meeting was ended and everyone was leaving, Martindale had again approached Mr Newson, this time attempting to grab some of his paperwork.

Mr Newson had then stood up and Martindale grabbed him.

Sgt Bushell said Mr Newson had provided police with a video which showed Martindale grabbing a shirt button near Mr Newson’s collar.

He said Martindale had denied slapping Mr Newson across the head.

Sgt Bushell said Martindale told police he had been provoked by Mr Newson for a period of two years.

He admitted yelling at Mr Newson at the end of the meeting and at some point grabbed his collar.

“He said he knew that he should not have let his emotions get the better of him and he was apologetic for the assault,” Sgt Bushell said.

Sgt Bushell said Martindale had provided information for the court to consider, including paperwork about alleged defamation.

“No doubt it has played a role,” he said.

Martindale, who was unrepresented, asked Magistrate Barry Barrett to consider two things before handing down sentencing.

“One, that this has come after two years of non-stop provocation by Mr Newson in a variety of media including print, on the Internet and in person,” he said.

“This criticism by Mr Newson has tended to wash off my back but it has absolutely destroyed my wife’s joy of life.

“Part of the reason why I lost it this particular day was that Mr Newson wasn’t just sitting in a seat at a desk, he was sitting in my seat. It was a media seat. He had no right to be there.

“I was attending an important meeting to do my job and Mr Newson, when I asked him to move from that seat, refused.

“I had to stand in one of the most important meetings that Council has held this year on my feet for 90 minutes trying to record a very complex series of discussions.”

Martindale said what Mr Newson had done had made him “go off”.

“It was out of character and I do apologise for wasting the court’s time and the police’s time with this and it will not happen again.

“I would apologise to Mr Newson if he was here.”

Magistrate Barrett said he had taken into consideration all matters put forward by the Prosecutor and Martindale.

He noted that Martindale had pleaded guilty early, had co-operated totally throughout the investigation of the offence and had no prior criminal history.

Mr Barrett said he put Martindale’s actions on the day down to a loss of control and an out-of-character act. He said it appeared he had expressed immediate and extreme remorse and had offered to apologise.

He said there was a degree of provocation, falling short of a defence at law, but he would take that into account.

Martindale was placed on a $300 bond to be of good behaviour for four months.

No conviction was recorded.

Footnote: On February 5, Mr Newson, a former Greens candidate for the seats of Nanango and Maranoa, announced he would be running for South Burnett Mayor at the upcoming Council Elections.