A security guard who put a man into a chokehold and slammed his head into a wall at Perth’s Metropolis music venue in Fremantle has been handed an eight month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.
As Perth Now reports, the 25-year-old security guard, Adam Ryan Kennedy, has been found guilty of assaulting Aaron Tuana at Metropolis in December 2015.
While Kennedy escaped an immediate jail term, he was also fined $5,000, which will supposedly be given to Tuana, who the court heard was “traumatised” by the incident, and left suffering from severe headaches and memory loss, as well as requiring ongoing medical treatment.
The incident which left Tuana injured took place after he began arguing with security guards at Metropolis after his friend was evicted from the venue at around 1:30am.
Kennedy was then captured on CCTV, using a chokehold on Tuana until he passed out, before hitting Tuana’s head on a wall and dropping his limp body onto the ground.
Tuana was taken to Royal Perth Hospital with a small bleed to the brain, and had no memory of the attack.
The police prosecutor said Kennedy’s chokehold was “very dangerous”.
“(Security guards) are employed day in and day out to control the situation, not aggravate it,” the prosecutor said.
“The victim, whilst being unconscious and in the most vulnerable state a human being can be, was discarded on the ground.”
During sentencing, Magistrate Thomas Hall said Kennedy’s attack was “totally excessive and totally unnecessary”.
“It was at the very least a reckless act,” he said. “There are numerous cases where people have died from choker holds such as this.”
