A 26-year-old man who was an "enthusiastic participant" in a wild brawl at the Lighthouse Hotel in Ulverstone was sentenced to a 12-month jail term on the unusual charge of affray.
Lopiseni Lincoln Rupene Tomasi pleaded guilty to one count of affray on January 17, 2020.
The court heard that six minutes of CCTV footage of the brawl, which involved throwing of chairs, glasses, eight balls and pool cues had been watched millions of times around the world on social media.
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Justice Robert Pearce added the 12-months' jail to a recent sentence of 12-months' jail handed down in the Launceston Magistrates Court for three counts of common assault and family violence offences.
Tomasi was a member of an interstate group working for TasRail at the time of the brawl.
The fight erupted about 8.30pm when a member of Tomasi's group punched another man knocking him to the floor. The struck man shortly after grabbed an eight ball and threw it at a group causing the wild brawl to break out.
Justice Pearce said Tomasi was involved in the affray punching, kicking and grabbing.
He said that the brawl had begun to quieten when Tomasi threw a brutal and deliberate blow which caused a man, Darren Hanslow, to immediately lose consciousness and fall back onto a pool table and slide to the floor. The man was not looking at Tomasi at the time.
"The fight re-escalated and continued for a further three minutes and spilled out of the entrance onto the street," he said.
The fight spilt onto the footpath where chairs, balls and cues, and glasses of beer were thrown by men inside at men on the street causing five smashed windows, including an adjoining flower shop.
"You were a very active participant in all aspects of the violence," he said.
Justice Pearce said Tomasi punched an incapacitated man to the head while he lay face down on the footpath.
"He was rendered unconscious as a result of the punch," he said.
He said that despite the CCTV footage the identification of many of the participants had been difficult and some participants had returned to Victoria. Tomasi lost his job as a result of the incident.
Justice Pearce said that references had referred to a kind and caring man but they needed to be weighed against his action which included violent offences in Victoria.
He said that Tomasi had caused significant and incapacitating injury to three different men who were unable to defend themselves. "You are fortunate the harm was not greater," he said.
Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
