Rockingham: punch up at Warnbro petrol station lands man in court

Kim Stephen Thompson (48) pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm.

The police prosecutor told the court Thompson was working as a fuel delivery driver at 5.50pm on June 7.

Thompson had set up a perimeter with traffic cones and was replenishing the tanks.

The 42-year-old victim, who was talking on his mobile phone, drove through Thompson’s work area.

The victim and the accused became involved in a verbal altercation.

A short time after the altercation, the victim approached the accused to apologise and stepped inside Thompson’s work area.

Thompson pushed the victim outside of his work area, which caused the victim to raise his hands, an act Thompson perceived as an act of aggression.

Thompson pushed the victim to the floor, knelt down and punched him five times, until he was unconscious.

The victim had a cut lip which required stitches.

Counsel for the accused said Thompson had lost his job due to his actions.

“Thompson hit the victim once and then walked away,” the defence lawyer said.

“He then felt a kick to the back of his leg and in a flurry of punches knocked the victim unconscious.”

Counsel applied for a spent conviction for Thompson on the basis he had no criminal record.

Magistrate Felicity Zempilas said Thompson exhibited inappropriate behaviour.

“This could have been handled with words,” she said.

“Punching him once might have been self-defence, what followed was not. The use of violence is never acceptable and it’s becoming all too common that that’s the first action people resort to. It is not the community we want to live in where this is the first resort.”

She denied the spent conviction application, fined Thompson $2000 and ordered $1000 to be paid to the victim.