Soldier found guilty after dance punches

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 679, 25 March 1997, Page 18

Soldier found guilty after dance punches

A charge of common assault against Mark Anthony McKinney, 24, soldier of Waiouru, was upheld by Judge Lynton Laing in the Ohakune District Court on 1 3 March. McKinney had pleaded not guilty. Senior-Sgt Ross Bielby of Ohakune appeared for the police prosecution. The charge arose out of an incident on 1 1 August 1996 at the Hot Lava Nightclub in Ohakune Junction. The first prosecution witness was the complainant, Norman Osborne, who said he had been punched in the face without provocation, leaving him with a split lip which required three stitches. He said he had received 34 blows to.the head from McKinney who he identified in court. He said he and a friend had come from Ohope on Friday 9 August to spend a weekend at Turoa, staying at his friend' s father' s home in Ohakune. Because of the weather they were unable to ski on the Saturday. He said they had visited the Powderkeg, Turoa Ski Lodge and finally Hot Lava at about 1 .30am Sunday morning. They had started dancing with two girls who were strangers. Later he was approached by a man he had never seen before (McKinney) who struck him in the face without saying anything. After cleaning himself up in the toilet he waited for his friends and then left, but McKinney was outside wanting to start a fight. He walked away towards his car and used a cellphone to call the police. McKinney denied being drunk saying he only had a few 'stubbies' knowing that he had to drive home. He denied that he was creating a nuisance with the girls, that he had been told to stop and that he had pushed McKinney in the chest. He said he had never seen McKinney before and denied trying to pick a fight outside. Prosecution witness Bryce Lane said while dancing with the girls he saw McKinney approach and hit his friend in the face. He said he did not see that the two girls were part of a group of about five other people. "The assault appears to have been entirely unprovoked" he said. Lane said he and the complainant had spent a good day ' s skiing on the Saturday. They had been driven to the Junction on Saturday night by his father and it was arranged that they would be picked up later. Police constable Matthew Frost was called to the Junction at about 2.45am

and was approached by both McKinney and Osborne. McKinney had said he was just sorting it out "man to man". Constable Frost said McKinney was quite intoxicated and Osborne had not appeared intoxicated. McKinney told the court he had been dancing in a small group when he noticed that Osborne was making a nuisance of himself by dancing too close to one of the girls. He told Osborne to "back off ' but Osborne had pushed him backwards. He then hit Osborne. He didn't see if any injuries had been inflicted as Osborne had fallen to the floor while he immediately left the nightclub. However, some time later outside the nightclub, he said Osborne had again tried to pick a fight by pushing him. He then hit Osborne again. The second defence witness, Bombardier Dale Vitale, said he saw Osborne dancing too close to one of the girls and "she didn't like it but couldn' t move away because the dance floor was too crowded ... I saw her whack his hand from her behind". He said he heard McKinney tell Osborne to "cut it out" twice. Outside the nightclub he heard Osborne verbally abuse and shove McKinney. Bombardier Daniel Sheridan, another member of 163 Battery in Waiouru, said he had not seen any of the incidents inside the nightclub but had seen Osborne punch McKinney before he had hit back. Summing up, Judge Laing said despite the conflicting evidence from Osborne and Lane — one had said that they had not skied that Saturday whereas the other had claimed to have enjoyed a good day's skiing, as well as the contradictory evidence about being driven there by his father - that there was not doubt, even on the McKinney' s own testimony, that he had assaulted the complainant. McKinney was convicted and fined $200, court costs $95 and ordered to pay $305 toward witness expenses. •