A bouncer caught on camera punching a drunk patron in the face outside the Ocean Beach Hotel at Shellharbour is fighting a charge of reckless criminal assault.
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Minhindukulasuriya Fernando claims he was acting in defence of his fellow bouncers when he struck Blake Hunt once in the mouth with his right fist on the evening of March 2 after Hunt and one of his mates began to argue about getting kicked out of the hotel.
Two of Hunt’s front teeth fell out as a result of the punch. He has since had to have extensive dental work done and still has limited feeling in his mouth.
Giving evidence in Fernando’s Local Court hearing on Wednesday, Hunt admitted he’d had about 12 drinks that night and only remembered “bits and pieces”.
He said security guards approached he and his friend, Jake Todd, around 11.30pm saying they had to leave due to their level of intoxication.
The pair was walked to the hotel entrance where they began to argue with the bouncers about their ejection.
Hunt admitted during questioning from Fernando’s lawyer that he had refused to leave the club when directed, saying he didn’t understand why he was being kicked out and wanted an explanation.
He also admitted it was possible he and Todd were being “smartarses” and “bad mouthing” staff.
CCTV footage shows Hunt and Todd standing on the steps outside the venue arguing with three security guards (of which Fernando was one) before they are “hustled” down the stairs.
“When I got to the bottom of the stairs I saw the [head] security guard push Jake (who fell over), so I pushed him [the guard],” Hunt told the court, saying he saw the man fall forward.
”That’s when Fernando came from behind him and hit my in the mouth.”
Hunt said he suffered from extreme paranoia, leading him to “overreact” to little things and admitted it was possible he might overreact if he saw someone being pushed. Meantime, another witness, Kylie O’Connell, said Fernando had been standing on the hotel steps as the pushing had occurred and that his punch had come “out of the blue”.
“He gave one really hard punch straight to [the victim’s] face,” she said.
“[The victim] had no teeth and he was bleeding profusely from his mouth.”
The matter will return to court on February 21.
