Former Australian Olympic basketballer Danny Morseu has been discovered responsible on one depend of bodily hurt for punching a girl within the head eight occasions.
Jurors took about six hours to succeed in their unanimous verdict on Wednesday after Mr Morseu had earlier pleaded not responsible in Cairns District Court docket.
The jury discovered him not responsible on expenses of frequent assault and deprivation of liberty.
Mr Morseu remained impassive in the course of the verdict.
He denied ever hitting the lady in a Far North Queensland neighborhood in 2022 after a night of consuming collectively in three bars.
Additional particulars have been withheld for authorized causes.
Mr Morseu performed for Australia within the 1980 and 1984 Olympics, was named within the NBL Corridor of Fame, performed with the Brisbane Bullets and the St Kilda Saints, and performed for and coached the Toowoomba Mountaineers.
Decide Dean Morzone closed the courtroom for a number of hours whereas the lady took the stand on Monday and Tuesday.
Safety digital camera footage from one of many bars they attended by which Mr Morseu was concerned in an altercation with a patron was performed to the courtroom.
Mr Morseu might be seen throwing a drink on a desk and getting right into a combat with one other man.
A scuffle ensued involving different folks within the bar.
Neighbour raises alarm
Crown prosecutor Tim Watkins instructed the courtroom Mr Morseu and the lady returned to a house the place it was alleged Mr Morseu punched her eight occasions for “between 40 to 50 seconds” constantly within the head, earlier than twice refusing to let her depart.
“She thought she was going to die. She noticed black twice,” Mr Watkins stated.
A next-door neighbour, who referred to as the police, instructed the courtroom she heard steady screaming for as much as 20 minutes in the course of the night time.
“It was a feminine voice screaming for assist very loud,” she stated.
A police officer instructed the courtroom he attended the house within the early hours of the next morning and located the lady on the veranda with “fairly a big quantity of blood on her face”.
His body-worn digital camera footage, proven in courtroom, confirmed Mr Morseu seated at a eating room desk together with his legs crossed, sporting inexperienced shorts and a Lethal Selections shirt.
He stated a number of occasions that he by no means hit the lady.
He stated the lady hit him within the chest and was aggressive towards him.
“I do not know what occurred. She went to the toilet. She should’ve finished one thing to her face,” Mr Morseu stated within the body-worn footage.
Physician’s proof states self-inflicted wounds unlikely
Erin Jeffrey, a health care provider on responsibility on the close by hospital on the time, examined the complainant round 1am on the night time of the incident.
Dr Jeffrey stated she stitched a 2-centimetre lower on her left eyebrow and instructed the courtroom there was additionally swelling, tenderness, and slight bruising to the lady’s left eyelid, left ear, and left thumb.
She stated she would contemplate it impossible that the lower was self-inflicted.
Intensive care emergency drugs specialist Adam Holyoak instructed the courtroom he handled the lady three days later.
He stated he famous bruising and ache concentrated across the lady’s head and neck and “noticeably two very large black eyes”.
Requested by the prosecution if the bruising was from a number of blunt forces, Dr Holyoak replied: “It will be very tough to maintain this from a single blunt pressure.”
Decide Morzone has adjourned the courtroom till the afternoon for sentencing.
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