A man complicit in several assaults last summer has narrowly avoided jail, despite causing significant injury to the face of an innocent bystander.
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Conniey Rea Riley faced serious jail time in the Launceston Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon, after pleading guilty to four counts of assault earlier this year.
On November 15, 2015, the 23-year-old and friend Corey Mitchell Gesler, also 23, carried out a two-on-one attack on a man at Launceston’s Lonnies Niteclub on Brisbane Street.
The incident occurred at 1.30am.
After Gesler struck the man multiple times, causing him to fall back in his seat, Riley delivered a follow-up punch.
The punch accidentally struck a woman who leapt to protect the victim.
As Gesler left the nightclub soon after, he headbutted and punched another unsuspecting patron to the face, causing him to fall down a stairwell.
It was there, Riley kicked the man while he was defenceless on the ground.
The first attack caused little damage, but the second victim suffered nerve injuries to his eye that required surgery, a five centimetre gash to his face and a misaligned jaw, among other injuries.
He needed three weeks off work and is still suffering the psychological effects.
Despite telling the court he was sorry for the incidents, Riley and Gesler would go on to attack a number of people at a pub two months later, in an unrelated incident.
Gesler – the instigator in both sets of bashings – was jailed for both incidents.
A nervous-looking Riley feared the worst as he entered the dock, but Justice Robert Pearce noted that the defendant had taken considerable steps to keep his nose clean since January last year.
The judge concluded that that term of imprisonment was best served in a wholly suspended form.
Justice Pearce called Riley’s attacks “unprovoked, opportunistic and cowardly”.
However, Justice Pearce did acknowledge that Riley was not the main aggressor.
Justice Pearce sentenced Riley to a nine-month jail term that was wholly suspended for two years.
Riley was also sentenced to 175 hours’ community service.
“If you breach either of those it is very likely you will serve a term of imprisonment,” Justice Pearce said.