Judgment day in Geraldton mayor Shane Van Styn’s trial for alleged assault

Magistrate Sandra De Maio will this afternoon hand down her decision in the trial of Geraldton Mayor Shane Van Styn over an alleged assault occasioning bodily harm. Yesterday the court heard closing remarks from prosecutor Simon Freitag SC and defence lawyer George Giudice. Mr Freitag said the prosecution had made it clear to the court that after drinking for nine and a half hours at the Kalbarri Motor Hotel, Mr Van Styn “took the law into his own hands” and assaulted 32-year-old Tahnwa Graham Manrique. “To any reasonable person Mr Manrique was annoying or infuriating,” he said. “Even if your honour finds he was behaving like a goose, a fool or an idiot, none of those situations make it lawful to punch him in the face.” He said a witness to the incident, Ellise Nicholls, said Mr Van Styn appeared angry and emotional following an earlier verbal altercation between the pair over a stool. Mr Freitag contends that at 8.01pm on April 6, 2019, Mr Van Styn followed Mr Manrique into the smoking room and punched him in the mouth following an earlier verbal altercation over a bar stool. “The prosecution believes Mr Van Styn acted as a sheriff,” he said. “He decided to sort the problem out himself.” Mr Giudice disputed this, saying the prosecution had not proved beyond reasonable doubt that there was a punch. “We know there was a lot of people inside that smoking room,” he said. “It’s amazing but there doesn’t seem to be any effort by the police to identify the people in that room and bring them here to give evidence.” He said the prosecution was relying on the testimony of the complainant, Mr Manrique, who an hour later was shown to have a BAC of 0.209. “It is my submission he is a totally unreliable witness,” he said. “I would suggest that Mr Van Styn throughout that afternoon, and particularly the hour we have seen on CCTV, had the patience of Job.” Mr Giudice referenced the testimony of then bar manager, Sean Ingram, who said the complainant was “looking for trouble that night” and had upset a lot of people in the bar. “Mr Ingram described the shocking behaviour of this man,” Mr Giudice said. “He caused my client to act the way he did in the smoking room through his aggressive actions.” Mr Freitag pulled no punches yesterday when he described Mr Van Styn’s testimony as “dishonest” and “inconsistent with the reality of the CCTV”. “Your evidence is inaccurate, you are twisting the circumstances to suit your narrative,” he said. “Your intention was to go and sort out Mr Manrique because of the way he had been behaving.” He said the only reasonable conclusion of the presence of blood and Mr Manrique’s DNA on Mr Van Styn’s shirt and the ground of the smoking room was that the mayor caused his injuries. He said medical witness Graeme Findlay, who provided medical attention to Mr Manrique about 9pm on the night of the alleged assault, told the court the injuries were consistent with a punch to the face. Dr Findlay wrote in his notes that evening that he had facial injuries, bruising and his front teeth were loose but intact. However, Mr Giudice said the injuries could have occurred when Mr Manrique fell off his bike outside the hotel and the doctor said it was possible the injuries could be caused by other means. Mr Giudice called into question the account of key witness Ms Nicholls, whose account the prosecution was relying on to back up Mr Manrique’s claims. “She said ‘I can’t remember’ 32 times in her evidence,” he said. “She could not see the action she thought was a punch. “The lack of Ms Nicholls’ memory, who the prosecution relies on so heavily, tears a hole in the prosecution’s story.” The trial has concluded after three days in Geraldton Magistrate’s Court. Magistrate De Maio will recall the matter at noon today to provide her judgment.