GNFL player and former coach Justin Crudeli on trial over Geraldton Hotel assault

GNFL player and former coach Justin Crudeli is on trial accused of punching two security guards who were trying to evict him from a Geraldton pub, sparking a bar brawl. During a two-day trial in Geraldton Magistrates Court this week, Mr Crudeli challenged charges of assault occasioning bodily arm, common assault and failing to leave a licensed premise when required to do so over the February 11 incident last year at the Geraldton Hotel. On that night CCTV showed Mr Crudeli allegedly hit a man who had insulted him, causing security guards Xander Jones and Madison Timms-McArthur to investigate. The guards were told Mr Crudeli had hit someone, although prosecution witnesses differ on which person the guards were told he struck. Mr Jones testified he was told by a woman that Mr Crudeli had hit her, and went to tell him to leave. The prosecution alleged Mr Crudeli then made violent threats towards the guard and refused to leave. CCTV footage showed Mr Crudeli attempt to walk past the guard, away from an exit, at which point the guard stuck their arm in front of Mr Crudeli. Police prosecutor Sgt Ross Gray said that was a lawful use of force by a licensed person against someone refusing to leave. In response, Mr Crudeli pushed the guard, which the prosecution said was an unlawful and disproportionate response. In the brawl that followed, Mr Crudeli allegedly punched the two guards, kicked Mr Timms-McArthur and pulled his hair — the alleged actions which form the basis of Mr Crudeli’s two assault charges. Mr Jones was allegedly left with scratch marks, while Mr Timms-McArthur was allegedly left with cuts to his ear and lip. He also claimed his arm was dislocated by Mr Crudeli, which he said “reduced him to tears”. On the stand, Mr Crudeli said he had been unfairly accused of hitting a woman by the guards, and that was why he refused to leave. He said when he attempted to move to speak to a manager, he was assaulted by Mr Jones who touched him when he put his arm out. His actions during the brawl, he said, were him acting in self-defence when outnumbered, and he feared for his safety as Mr Timms-McArthur allegedly held him in a headlock. “If anything I should be charging them,” he said. This trial comes after Mr Crudeli was acquitted in September 2021 of raping a teenage girl, a fact his lawyer, Malcolm Ayoub, said had led to his client being falsely labelled a pedophile and made him sensitive to false allegations. Mr Ayoub said the guards had failed to try to defuse the situation by not giving him space, not listening to his side of the argument, and not calling the police despite saying they would. “The public are at risk from this behaviour,” he said. Mr Ayoub questioned the reliability of the witnesses called by the prosecution, pointing to inconsistencies in their testimonies. For instance, the first witness said she never told the guards she herself had been hit, while the alleged victims said she had and that Mr Crudeli was her ex-boyfriend. Mr Ayoub also argued Mr Timms-McArthur’s testimony was contaminated as his mother had been in the court room for previous witnesses before speaking to him. A decision was reserved until April 4.