Bar stools thrown, beer glasses shattered and noses broken in pub brawl

Jemal Broadwood and Michael Bolger pleaded guilty in Hamilton Magistrates Court on July 10, 2024, to charges of affray.

They were both convicted and fined $750.

Co-accused Benjamin Smith, who is believed to have been the main instigator of the incident, pleaded guilty to the same offence two months earlier and was convicted and fined $2500.

The three middle-aged men were the only ones charged in relation to the pub brawl on November 24, 2023.

The court was previously told the men were at Hamilton's Alexandra House Sports Club when the three men became involved in an altercation with 10 unknown men near a pool table.

CCTV footage from the night showed men being grabbed by the throat, pushed to the ground and punched.

Smith threw multiple punches at the group before being hit in the head and suffering a broken nose.

One of the men could be seen on the footage picking up a bar stool and slamming it onto the pool table multiple times, causing beer glasses to shatter.

A lawyer for Bulger said her client suffered a fractured cheekbone and nose, and an injury to his shoulder which he still had issues with.

She said the man's initial involvement was to de-escalate the incident.

Broadwood's lawyer said her client only picked up the bar stool and was a contributing member to the community who at 50-years-old was unlikely to re-offend.

The court heard Bulger and Broadwood both had a criminal history which magistrate Peter Mellas accepted was quite old.

He said it appeared Smith was the main offender who initiated the attack, and accepted "to some extent" the pair had been swept up in it all.

Mr Mellas said the charge of affray was often confused with behaviour such as punching or causing an injury.

"It's all about fighting in a way which puts people in fear," he said.

"That is (fear to) anybody who is in the pub, anybody who walks through the doors and sees a group of men furiously at it - bar stools broken, people on the ground being struck, people being pushed around and punches being thrown."

He said that was what affray was about - a public offence and the impact it had on those around.

"It's one of the first offences that was ever put on the books," the magistrate said.

He said the incident clearly involved people who had too much to drink and a dispute that got "completely out of hand".