Qld: Judge brandishes Australian binge drinking

AAP General News (Australia)
12-05-2003
Qld: Judge brandishes Australian binge drinking

By Ainsley Pavey

BRISBANE, Dec 5 AAP - A senior judge has criticised binge drinking in Australia as
he sent a man to jail for four months today for stomping on a night club patron's head.

Senior Brisbane District Court judge Tony Skoien jailed Paul Anthony Falekakala, 19,
over the New Year's Eve attack on Cromwell Laxon Smart outside Dome Nightclub in Brisbane.

Judge Skoien told the Brisbane construction worker it was just pure luck that he was
not facing sentencing for charges of murder or manslaughter.

He likened the case to the attack by three youths on 24-year-old Mirsad Turcinovic
who remains in a vegetative state after being savagely bashed in 2001.

The judge said he jailed the attackers in Mr Turcinovic's case for 16 years.

"There are three young men who did what you did .... they are now in jail for 16 years,"

Judge Skoien told the court.

"Their victim just lies in bed like a vegetable. A young man with a bright future.

"It's pure luck that what you did didn't end up the same way."

Judge Skoien described Falekakala's attack as savagery which was uninvited by his victim.

The court heard Mr Smart sustained a head wound which needed surgery, cuts and lacerations
after Falekakala stomped on his head while he was unconscious.

Falekakala later admitted to police to drinking heavily beforehand, downing 10 bourbon
and coke cans and up to two jugs of the drink.

The court heard Mr Smart had said to Falekakala "are you right man" before being punched
in the face and knocked unconscious.

He came to on the ground as Falekakala continued to punch him in the head and stomp on him.

An ambulance took him to Royal Brisbane Hospital.

Judge Skoien said Australia appeared to be following the binge drinking tendencies
of the British, rather than European behaviour.

"I have seen people in Europe who can sit with one glass of wine all night," Judge
Skoien told the court.

Falekakala was sentenced to 12 months jail to be suspended for three years after he
serves four months.

It was the second time in a week a Brisbane District Court judge has lashed out about
binge drinking among young people, leading to more violent crimes.

Judge Helen O'Sullivan in last Friday sentencing 20-year-old Daniel John Gissing to
nine months jail over a nightclub attack on February 2 this year, said: "Binge drinking
is a serious problem in our community and one that's leading to terrible acts of violence,
which inevitably leads to criminal charges."

Her comments followed criticism over underaged binge drinking at the Schoolies Festival
on the Gold Coast.

AAP ap/sc/sco/de

KEYWORD: FALEKAKALA

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