Geraldton mayor Shane Van Styn ‘constructed story to cover up Tahnwa Graham Manrique assault’, says prosecutor

The prosecution has accused Geraldton mayor Shane Van Styn of constructing a story after he denied punching a man at a Kalbarri hotel in 2019. Mr Van Styn took to the witness stand today and said he did not punch Tahnwa Manrique at the Kalbarri Motor Hotel on April 6, but simply moved his hand up to push him away after the man had been causing trouble throughout the afternoon — at one stage goading the mayor: “you want to go, let’s go you c...”. Mr Van Styn, who is on trial for alleged assault occasioning bodily harm, said he and other patrons at the hotel had for several hours been verbally confronted by a “loud and aggressive” Mr Manrique. “Suffice to say, being yelled at for hours gets on your nerves a bit, but I was OK,” he said. He said the verbal altercation he had with Mr Manrique 30 minutes before the alleged assault escalated to the point he feared he was going to be hit. “He began yelling at me, almost screaming ‘you want to go, let’s go you c...’,” he said. “It was unsavoury behaviour. Throughout the afternoon he had done that to a number of people.” But prosecutor Simon Freitag SC argued Mr Van Styn had constructed a story to “justify his later actions”. “I suggest to you that your evidence is inaccurate, you are twisting the circumstances to suit your narrative,” he said. “You intention was to go and sort out Mr Manrique because of the way he had been behaving. “It was about time to teach him a lesson.” The court saw CCTV footage of Mr Van Styn following Mr Manrique outside to the smoking room where, a minute later, the assault allegedly occurred. The incident was not captured on CCTV. Mr Van Styn contends he followed Mr Manrique because a man in a white shirt, who had previously told him he had been confronted by the complainant, was out there. “I said to (off-duty bartender) Ellise ‘I think there’s going to be trouble. I might go have a look’,” he said. “He was in a close argument with the man in the white shirt.” Mr Van Styn said he asked Mr Manrique to stop what he was doing and Mr Manrique then “took two steps and made contact with my chest”. “I moved my right hand up to push him away,” he said. Mr Van Styn said off-duty bartender Ellise Nicholls then kicked Mr Manrique out of the hotel. Mr Freitag said Mr Van Styn’s version of events was “inaccurate”. “This bloke disrespected and abused you,” he said. “That made you mad. “You marched up to Mr Manrique and punched him in the mouth.” He said DNA evidence found on the ground of the smoking room and on Mr Van Styn’s work shirt matched his and Mr Manrique’s. “I suggest the only way that blood ended up where it was, was because you punched him,” he said. Mr Van Styn denied the accusation that he hit Mr Manrique and suggested Mr Manrique’s injuries came from falling off his bike outside the pub. From 2.15pm today, the prosecution and defence will give their closing addresses in Geraldton Magistrate’s Court. Magistrate Sandra Di Maio is not expected to hand down a verdict until tomorrow.