A Page man has been found guilty of king-hitting a diner in the food court of Westfield Belconnen. The punch, near Subway at about 2.30pm on April 19 last year, hospitalised Bradley Mason with a bruised brain.
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His attacker, Christopher Parlov, 23, was charged with committing a negligent act that caused grievous bodily harm. He pleaded not guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court.
But Magistrate Peter Morrison on Thursday rejected Parlov’s defence and found him guilty of the violent attack.
The court heard Parlov had fought with a friend of the victim weeks earlier over the theft of a mobile phone. The pair saw each other at the mall about half an hour before the assault and the victim’s friend had challenged Parlov to fight.
CCTV footage of the incident, tendered during the two-day trial, shows Parlov, his girlfriend and his brother walk through the food court area on level three of the northside mall. The offender’s brother then had a heated argument with the victim’s friend.
The footage shows Mr Mason and Parlov join the conversation before the defendant suddenly hit the victim in the head with his right fist. The punch floored Mr Mason and he hit his head on the ground, knocking him unconscious. A scuffle ensued, during which time Parlov and his brother both grabbed vacuum cleaners to use at weapons. A Westfield guard arrived soon after and broke up the melee.
When the Westfield guard asked the defendant what had happened, Parlov said: ''These guys jumped us two weeks ago, so we're getting them back.''
During the trial, prosecutor Michael Reardon said the punch had been ''a simple matter of revenge''. But Parlov said Mr Mason had claimed he had a knife.
Parlov said he had thrown the punch after the victim moved his hands and the offender feared he had a weapon. The defence lawyer told the court his client had acted in self-defence in response to imminent danger.
But Mr Morrison rejected the defence and found Parlov had no reasonable grounds to punch Mr Mason.
The magistrate found the victim had moved his hand shortly before attack, but it had been ''innocuous'':and identical to two earlier hand movements to touch his face. He said the movements had not been accompanied by anything to suggest an imminent attack, such as the cocking of an arm before striking a blow.
Parlov will be sentenced in August.
