Every week TheShout scours reports from every state and territory in the country to bring you news on crimes affecting the hotel, club and liquor industries. Sharing information on robberies and alcohol-related violence helps businesses develop systems to bolster security and can help police identify offenders. Know of an incident we’ve missed? Give us a shout at editor@54.64.152.77.
ACT
Prosecutors in the murder trial of Canberra nightclub owner Maurizio Gianpier Rao told the ACT Supreme Court on Monday the accused was the aggressor in a fight that ended in the killing of 23-year-old man. It is alleged the accused racially taunted a group of islanders outside the Cube nightclub in Canberra before a brawl erupted in which Nato Suela was fatally stabbed in the stomach and head. The court has heard that during a conversation recorded by police a month after the incident, Rao said it was not his fault that the deceased had an unnaturally thin skull.
WA
A 28-year-old Perth man has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm over a Monday night brawl outside the Old Bailey Tavern on Monday night that left a policeman in a coma. The injured policeman was headbutted from behind while he and two other officers were trying to break up a large disturbance. He fell to the ground and hit his head on the pavement, breaking his cheekbone and jaw. The 55-year-old father of the accused was fired on with a Taser gun, suffered a heart attack and is in a serious but stable condition in hospital. Police said the man continued fighting after receiving an electrical discharge but collapsed soon after. Police conducted CPR on the man until an ambulance arrived.
QLD
A woman armed with a syringe containing red fluid entered a Vintage Cellars bottle shop in the Brisbane suburb of Carindale on Saturday morning and demanded money. She then apologised before leaving with a sum of cash. She is described as “well dressed”, Caucasian, about 35 years old and 165cm tall.
A man armed with a knife robbed the bottle shop of the Red Brick Hotel, Woolloongabba, on Wednesday evening. He demanded money and alcohol from an attendant before leaving on foot. He is described as caucasian, 189cm, skinny, with a brown shaved head, heavily tattooed arms and missing his top four front teeth.
Police are continuing an investigation into an assault at Brisbane’s Regatta Hotel on New Year’s Day when a man was punched in the head and knocked to the ground. The offender is described as caucasian, 25 to 30-years-old, about 175cm tall, with a solid build, shaved light-coloured hair, and tattoos up his arms.
NSW
Coffs Harbour police charged two men and a minor on Tuesday in relation numerous break ins at licensed premises in Northern NSW dating back to November 2007. It is alleged the men, armed with knives, bars and swords, targeted cash located in poker machines the Richmond, Mid North Coast, New England and Coffs/Clarence regions.
A 38-year-old Newtown man will appear in court on March 19 over an armed raid on a Wollongong hotel on April 15, 2007. Police allege two men forced entry into the Crown Street tavern, threatened staff with a pistol and tied them up before making off with a sum of cash.
VIC
Fifteen men were arrested for drunkenness at the Melbourne Cricket Ground Twenty 20 cricket match last Friday evening. A number of people were also turned away at the gates due to intoxication.
A female bartender who served a customer disinfectant was fined $3000, handed an 18-month good behaviour sentence and had her responsible service of alcohol licence revoked on Monday. The Melbourne Magistrate Court heard that Emily Craig, 23, served Matthew Papaluca, then 18, 10ml of Pine-O-Cleen in a shot glass mixed with 20ml of cola at 6.15am at the Evolution nightclub on March 4 last year. Craig said she had served the disinfectant as a joke, was remorseful and had written an apology to the victim.
NT
Police seized a large quantity of alcohol while responding to a report of an unlawful entry at a residence in the Yarralin Community 300km south west of Katherine on Thursday. Police became suspicious after observing a corkscrew with a cork attached on top of the sink. After asking the 58-year-old male resident where the bottle of wine was, he produced half a bottle of wine from the fridge. Asked if there was any further alcohol, he produced a further 91 bottles of white and red wines. Yarralin is a ‘dry’ community where the posession and distribution of alcohol is strictly prohibited.