Collingwood's Marley Williams avoids jail on grievous bodily harm charge
Date
April 22, 2014 - 1:07PM
Collingwood young gun Marley Williams has escaped an immediate jail term after being found guilty of grievous bodily harm for breaking a man's jaw in a one-punch attack outside a nightclub.
Williams, 20, was convicted in February after a jury deliberated for more than two-and-a-half hours, following a four-day trial at Albany District Court.
The court heard the Magpies defender assaulted 29-year-old Matthew Robertson outside Studio 146 during the 2012 Christmas holidays.
Williams submitted during the trial that the violence began when three men, including Mr Robertson, assaulted him in the nightclub toilets.
Williams told police ‘‘I wasn’t going to let them feel like they got the better of me’’.
But in court, he denied he had been angry and out for revenge when he hit Mr Robertson, claiming he feared for his own safety as the men approached him on the street.
Williams described the assault as a ‘‘reflex punch’’ intended to warn the men to ‘‘back off’’.
But prosecutors said Williams was acting out of ‘‘malicious, vindictive vengeance’’ when he swung the left-handed punch, which left Mr Robertson with a broken jaw and needing an emergency flight to Perth for surgery.
Prosecutor Tony Loudon argued that Mr Robertson was standing in an ‘‘utterly defensive position’’, posing no threat with his arms folded.
While defence lawyer Tom Percy said during sentencing in the West Australian District Court on Tuesday that Williams had gone downstairs to see what the men were up to, Mr Loudon said that was inconsistent with the young footballer’s testimony at the trial, when he said he was catching a taxi.
