Machete-wielder gets work, probation

Press, 28 February 1981, Page 4

Machete-wielder gets work, probation

A youth', who had a machete in a confrontation be- , tween two groups at a house in Domain Terrace, Spreydon, in the early hours of] June 9, 1980, has been ordered to do 100 hours community work and put on probation for a year by Mri Justice Roper in the High] Court yesterday. i Mark Francis Higgins, I aged 18, an apprentice cabi-l netmaker, was found guilty! by' a ju;y on' charges of I being a member of an un-} lawful assembly which at- i tacked the occupants of aj house in Domain Terrace, | assaulting John Peter Nairn! with intent to injure and having an offensive weapon: — a machete — in Domain] Terrace. i

The charges arose from a! dispute between two groups of youths who lived in houses in Domain Terrace. It ibegan in a Lincoln Road hamburger bar and two of the youths had a fight outside, one suffering a swollen I lip. ; It culminated when a I group armed with weapons (went to a house and attacked the occupants. Al i youth received two slashes ion the shoulder blades from la machete wielded by Higj gins. Mr D. J. Taffs, for Higi gins, said that Higgins was I aged 17 when the offences i occurred and it arose from a igrudge between two groups.! IHe realised that there was i no excuse for him taking the j imachete and that he was: I very foolish in using it.

On arrival at the house Higgins dropped the machete but picked it up when things got out of hand and he used it on a youth who was striking a person on the head with a length of timber. When Higgins saw his friend being assaulted he struck the attacker with the flat of the blade. Although the injuries were nasty they I were not as bad as they I would have been had he used the machete in the usual manner. The youths were acting like hooligans and both were “armed to the teeth.” Higgins had since broken his association with the group. IHe had done three years of I a five-year apprenticeship and was highly thought of by his employer, Mr Taffs said.