STATE OF TASMANIA v BRODY LOHREY 1 JULY 2020
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE PEARCE J
Brody Lohrey, you plead guilty to assault. On 16 November 2019 you attended an engagement party held at a golf club. You were then aged 24. You, and most others at the party, consumed alcohol throughout the night. Just after midnight, as everyone was leaving, you became involved in an argument with another of the guests, a male then aged 51. You had both been drinking. In the course of the argument you punched the man once to the head. He fell to the ground unconscious. His nose was seen to be bleeding. You then left with friends. An ambulance was called. The complainant was taken to the Launceston General Hospital and then, because of concern about a head injury, to the Royal Hobart Hospital. Medical investigations disclosed that the complainant was seriously injured. His left upper jaw was fractured. His skull was fractured towards the top rear, and there was subarachnoid and subdural haemorrhaging, that is, bleeding from the brain under the membranes surrounding the brain.
You were identified as the person responsible for the punch. You pleaded guilty at an early stage. You have no prior convictions for violence. You have an industrious background and are in stable employment as a storeman and driver with a food distribution company. The manager has written a favourable reference describing your responsibility, capacity and trustworthiness. You explain your crime in this way. You were a friend of the groom to be. You and he came to the belief that the complainant had made a series of offensively suggestive remarks directed at your friend’s fiancée. You both became angry. You ushered your friend away to the waiting vehicle on the basis that you would talk to the complainant. When you did so he denied it. Unsatisfied with this response, you approached him again. As he stepped towards you, you punched him. You apprehended that you may need to defend yourself but you now accept that either no force was necessary, or even if it was, your act was an excessive and unjustified response. You left with your friend but only, you say, after asking others to check that the complainant was alright. He plainly was not. Although it was not asserted in these terms by counsel for the State, this seems to be a repetition of the not uncommon situation where a single punch renders a victim unconscious, with serious head injuries either from the initial punch or the resultant unprotected fall. It seems to me to be more likely that the fall caused the skull fracture in this case.
Violence of this nature committed late at night by young men affected by alcohol is all too prevalent. No doubt you were in a state of heightened emotion, but it must, yet again, be made clear to you and others that the consequences can be tragic. I accept that you did not intend or foresee such serious injuries, but such injuries as you inflicted are life threatening. The complainant remained in hospital for two days. He had post-traumatic amnesia but very fortunately it seems that no cognitive or neurological injury has eventuated. He did not make a victim impact statement but there must have been some impact, at the very least from the broken jaw. The hospital medical report expresses the position in terms that, from his discharge, he was expected over time to make a full recovery. No doubt the experience was a frightening one for him.
Because you are a relatively young man, you have not been in serious trouble before, and because the indications are that you are otherwise a responsible member of the community, a sentence of imprisonment will not be imposed. I will order community service and a fine. In light of the seriousness of the assault the fine must be a significant one. If you were to act in this way again, you may expect imprisonment would be a likely result.
Brody Lohrey, you are convicted. I make a community corrections order for a period of 18 months from today. The core conditions of that order will be specified in the order you will be given and include that you not commit an offence punishable by imprisonment, that you report to and comply with the directions of a probation officer, that you must not leave Tasmania without permission, and that you must notify of any change of address. I impose a special condition that you must, within the operational period of the order, satisfactorily perform 70 hours of community service, as directed by a probation officer or a supervisor. If you breach any of those conditions you may be brought back to court and re-sentenced. In addition, I impose a fine of $3,000. I may only allow 28 days to pay, but you may apply to enter into a repayment arrangement.