Compensation for man

Press, 7 August 1985, Page 22

Compensation for man

PA Dunedin A man who needed 54 stitches to the face after being hit with a broken glass will get $5OO compensation from a friend who attacked him in a bar row over pool, Judge Willy ruled in the District Court at Dunedin. Bruce Churchill, aged 45, a bus driver, was convicted and fined $lOOO. The Judge ordered that half be paid to the victim, Gavin William Overton, of Port Chalmers. Churchill had pleaded guilty to a charge of assault with intent to injure. Detective Sergeant J. G. Doyle said that Churchill and Overton became involved in a heated agument. Churchill had said he and Overton had been friends for years, but he thought

Overton was about to strike defendant’s wife. One of Overton’s eyeballs had been exposed by a slash from the glass, the Judge was told. Mr J. M. Hanan, counsel for Churchill, said the defendant was being hassled by Overton over being dropped from a team that was to play pool in Christchurch. Churchill had broken the glass accidentally but had then acted in a “moment of blind rage.” He was deeply ashamed of what happened, said Mr Hanan. The Judge said the courts had an obligation to try to stamp out violence in hotels: if he had felt Churchill had deliberately broken the glass he would have sentenced him to prison.