Nicholas Jeakings: CFMEU member embroiled in wild junior AFL brawl cops spray over security guard assault

A CFMEU council member freshly fined over his role in a wild brawl at a junior AFL match has been blasted by a magistrate over an attack on a security guard at a shopping centre in Perth’s east. Nicholas David Jeakings was charged with assault and disorderly behaviour in public over the incident at Belmont Forum on August 9, and pleaded guilty to both in Perth Magistrates Court on Wednesday. The court was told the incident was captured on CCTV, showing Jeakings run up behind the guard and push the back of their head. He also used profane language as shoppers, including children, watched on. Through his lawyer, Jeakings argued that his children had been kicked out of the centre and security guards were “being aggressive” towards them. When questioned by police at his Cloverdale home a week later, he claimed he had raised a hand to defuse the situation. Magistrate Gavin MacLean suggested he was initially inclined to jail the 54-year-old after viewing the footage, which was also captured on the guard’s body-worn camera. “If it had been a punch, you would have been in real trouble today,” the magistrate told Jeakings, describing his offending as “manifestly stupid rather than seriously manifestly criminal”. “That’s not how you defuse a situation. It’s how you get arrested,” he added. Jeakings’ lawyer said three of his nine children had passed away, so he was “very defensive” of the other six. The magistrate dismissed that as a “self-indulgent” explanation, saying he could not keep using it. “It’s just a licence to be an idiot,” Magistrate MacLean replied. “You’re not the hero in this story. You’re the author of this problem.” The magistrate imposed a six-month community-based order with supervision and program requirements. He also imposed 30 hours community service, which Jeakings said he could not do. “He can do it or he can go to jail,” the magistrate said. “You’re going to have to do work like the rest of us.” The builder’s labourer shouted “dogs” at waiting media as he left the court, extending his middle digit. He is one of three men charged over a shocking fracas that erupted at a match between Mt Lawley-Inglewood and High Wycombe at Hamer Park Reserve in Mt Lawley on July 26. It’s understood up to 10 spectators “punched and kicked” the Mt Lawley club members in a melee sparked by a High Wycombe player copping a yellow and subsequent red card for rough conduct on-field. Streams of other parents and supporters then swarmed in an attempt to break up the altercation. Jeakings was last week fined $400 plus costs of $300.50 for disorderly behaviour. CFMEU state secretary Mick Buchan said the union unequivocally did not condone his actions, describing them as “out of character for the person we know”. Mr Buchan said Jeakings was a first responder at the Curtin University site where 23-year-old apprentice carpenter Jonathan Hartshorn fell to his death when a steel structure collapsed in 2020. The tragedy had left Jeakings with severe post-traumatic stress disorder, which he continued to seek treatment for. “It is crucial to understand the profound impact of this tragedy on Nick’s mental health,” Mr Buchan said in a statement. “While his recent actions are not excusable, they are deeply intertwined with the ongoing emotional and psychological aftermath of that tragic day.” Documents lodged with the Fair Work Commission list Jeakings as a divisional branch council member of the the CFMEU’s WA construction and general arm. The union’s website shows him attending worksites while a Facebook post shows him playing Santa at a union Christmas event in 2019.