'Bad luck' as concreter allegedly hit an unmarked police car with a traffic cone

After yelling at a passing vehicle during a night out in suburban Canberra, a concreter, who had already been arrested over an alleged assault in the Gungahlin Raiders Club, allegedly threw a traffic cone at a car.

But as his Legal Aid lawyer Mr Rutzou told the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday (1 July), it was either “bad luck, Murphy’s law or something else” that the car Silivelio Malo Sione allegedly threw the cone at turned out to be an unmarked police vehicle.

Court documents show police were patrolling Holt in an unmarked car at about 11:00 pm on Wednesday (30 June) when they saw 30-year-old Mr Sione allegedly stumbling on the road and yelling at another vehicle as it passed by.

The police pulled up near him when he was standing among a line of orange traffic cones. He allegedly picked one up and threw it at their car, denting its roof.

The two officers approached him and deduced he was intoxicated. They asked for his name several times, but he allegedly wouldn’t give it to them before giving a name the officers checked and found unlikely to be true. He was then arrested.

Mr Sione was also already facing charges over an alleged assault last year.

Court documents for this incident show he went to the Gungahlin Raiders Club on the night of 6 September 2020.

At about 9:00 pm, another patron saw someone had left their Raiders Club Card in a poker machine, so turned to a group of people seated at nearby machines to try to return the card to its owner.

After he asked if the card belonged to them and held it up in his hand, police allege Mr Sione suddenly approached him, put his face close to the man’s face and tried to headbutt him.

The man stepped away, but Mr Sione and another person allegedly pursued him around the pokies as he tried to leave the situation.

As the second person allegedly chased him, police allege Mr Sione circled back around the machines and approached the man from the side, then punched him in the face.

The man fell to the ground with blood dripping from a cut on his nose.

Mr Sione then allegedly picked up the man’s sunglasses and cigarettes, which he had dropped as he fell, and walked out of the club. He left behind his ACT learner driver’s licence at the club’s entrance and it was later collected by police.

The Palmerston resident was unsuccessful in his bid for bail in the Magistrates Court on Thursday.

Mr Rutzou said his client had been in and out of jail when younger, which he had put down to his lifestyle at the time as he was hanging out with the wrong people.

But, he said, his client was now a different person.

Mr Rutzou argued strict bail conditions could be introduced, including a curfew and a requirement that he not consume alcohol.

Prosecutor Ms Sheridan said while Mr Rutzou had said it was unlucky it was a police car that was hit by the cone, “it doesn’t matter that it was police”.

She alleged Mr Sione was prone to unprovoked violence when intoxicated.

Magistrate James Stewart said the accused had an extensive history of failing to appear in court when required and giving false names. He was refused bail.

Mr Sione was remanded in custody to 22 July. He has not entered any pleas to charges of assault, minor theft, throwing an object, damaging property and failing to provide a name or address over the two incidents.