Nobes v Sharpley

[2006] QDC 270

DISTRICT COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

Milton ; Nobes v Sharpley & Anor [2006] QDC 270

PARTIES:

GRAHAM JOHN MILTON

Applicant

v

ROBERT JOHN SHARPLEY

First Respondent

and

TREVOR AARON SHARPLEY

Second Respondent

And

MICHAEL JOSEPH NOBES

Applicant

v

ROBERT JOHN SHARPLEY

First Respondent

and

TREVOR AARON SHARPLEY

Second Respondent

FILE NO/S:

Nos D95/05 and D96/05

DIVISION:

Civil

PROCEEDING:

Criminal Compensation Applications

ORIGINATING COURT:

Toowoomba

DELIVERED ON:

4 August 2006

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATES:

25 May 2006

JUDGE:

McLauchlan QC DCJ

ORDER:

That the Second Respondent pay to Michael Joseph Nobes the sum of $32,250 by way of compensation.  That the First Respondent pay to Graham John Milton the sum of $33,750 by way of compensation.

CATCHWORDS:

COUNSEL:

Mr Scott Lynch for the applicants

SOLICITORS:

Bernays Lawyers for the applicants

1. I have before me 2 applications, the first being application number D95/05 in the Toowoomba Registry, being an application for criminal compensation pursuant to s 24 of the Criminal Offence (Victims) Act 1995 by Michael Joseph Nobes, the respondents being Robert John Sharpley and Trevor Aaron Sharpley.  The other application is brought by Graham John Milton against the same respondents; the application being number D96/05 in the Toowoomba Registry.

1. The two applications arise essentially out of the same incident.  At the time of that incident Graham Milton was Michael Nobes’s girlfriend’s father.  He is now his father-in-law.  Nobes and his then girlfriend, together with his parents and Mr and Mrs Milton, celebrated their engagement at the Westbrook Tavern in Westbrook on 1 December 2001.  They have since married.  The two respondents, Robert and Trevor Sharpley, are brothers and were known to Mr Nobes.  Mr Nobes was 20 at the date of the offence, having been born on 22 March 1981.

1. At approximately 9 p.m. on 1 December 2001, the applicant Nobes, his fiancée and Graham Milton were driven by the applicant’s mother to a work function held at the Shamrock Hotel.  At around midnight as they were leaving the hotel, the first respondent walked towards the applicant, accusing him of arranging an earlier altercation between the first respondent and another person.  The applicant was pushed and a number of punches were swung at him but none connected.  The security staff at the hotel stopped the altercation.  As the applicant’s group approached the corner of Ruthven and Herries Street, the first respondent again approached the applicant’s group and assaulted the applicant.  Graham Milton tackled the first respondent into a nearby bush and the altercation then ceased.

1. After attending a further hotel for a short time, the applicant’s group caught a taxi to the home of Graham and Shirley Milton in Toowoomba.  Once there, the applicant telephoned his mother, requesting her to come and pick them up.  Whilst on the phone he heard a bang, then heard his fiancée and Shirley Milton screaming.  The applicant went towards the kitchen and, before he had time to defend himself, was attacked by the second respondent, Trevor Sharpley.  He was hit across the nose and…