Blood on the dancefloor as three punched at Mooseheads

Joseph Robert Egan, 19, leaves court after being sentenced for assaults at Mooseheads Pub & Nightclub. Photo: Albert McKnight.

After being bumped into on a packed Canberra nightclub dancefloor, Joseph Robert Egan unleashed an unexpected flurry of punches against three people, knocking one to the ground.

“As with so many other offences in the Territory, it occurred at Mooseheads in the early hours of the morning,” Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker said when sentencing him in the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday (21 October).

She said the attacks took place on 24 April 2021. After two men bumped into him, the now 19-year-old punched one of them so hard he fell to the ground and punched the other several times in the head. He also hit an unknown person who got in his way.

The man who was knocked to the ground was taken to hospital and required eight stitches.

Egan’s identity as their attacker was discovered when he returned to Mooseheads Pub & Nightclub a month later and was recognised.

“You’ve said you’re not proud of your conduct, and neither should you be,” Magistrate Walker told him.

Lawyer Rachel Bird of Rachel Bird & Co said her client had been intoxicated and angry, but the whole “explosive” incident only lasted about five seconds.

She said the mother of the third-year apprentice plumber had said he still had a growing emotional intelligence.

But the prosecutor said the assaults were unprovoked, unexpected and that Egan had targeted his victims’ heads with his punches.

Egan pleaded guilty to assault. He was sentenced to an 18-month good behaviour order and fined $1500.