No time behind bars for man sentenced over attack outside strip club

A man punched outside a strip club had his jaw broken and was knocked unconscious while his nearby friend was left thinking he was dead.

“It goes without saying that the crimes should never have occurred,” ACT Supreme Court’s Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson told Marcos Paredes Valdez when he was sentenced for the attack.

The 30-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm and common assault over the 18 December 2021 attacks.

Paredes Valdez was out with his workmates, including Lachlan Davis, at the Wanderlust Gentlemen’s Club in Mitchell that night when he got into an argument with two men outside.

Davis tried to deliver a roundhouse kick towards one of the men’s heads, but missed. He and Paredes Valdez approached the other man, who would become the main victim, then Paredes Valdez punched him in the chin, breaking his jaw.

The victim was knocked over backwards onto the carpark, hit his head and was rendered unconscious.

Davis dragged the other man to the ground and kicked him in the back. Then as the man tried to stand, Paredes Valdez knocked him down again and punched him twice. Later, Paredes Valdez punched this man twice in the stomach.

The main victim was taken to hospital, never regaining consciousness at the scene, and needed a plate and four screws to fix his broken jaw.

After assaulting the two men, Paredes Valdez and Davis went back inside the strip club – which is where the former was arrested early the next morning.

Davis, 21, pleaded guilty over his role and was sentenced earlier this year, while his workmate was sentenced on Tuesday (24 May).

“Our society abhors attacks of this nature,” Justice Loukas-Karlsson told Paredes Valdez on the day.

She said the attacks on the main victim had a serious and significant impact, including preventing him from being able to eat solid food for two months.

The second man gave a statement to the court in which he said he was now scared to walk outside at night.

Justice Loukas-Karlsson said the Paraguay-born Paredes Valdez, who attends church each week, described his actions as a “gross overreaction” and had expressed his hope for his victim’s full recovery.

References from his family, friends, priest and colleague said his actions were out of character and he had shown a great deal of remorse.

He was sentenced to two years and three months’ jail to be served by an intensive corrections order in the community, along with 150 hours of community service.