Prison for one-punch attacker Brendan David Player at Albany nightclub who left man with bleeding on brain

An Albany man who punched a man in an unprovoked attack at an Albany nightclub, leaving him with bleeding on the brain, has been jailed. Brendan David Player, 27, was sentenced on one count of grievous bodily harm in the Albany District Court on February 22. The court was told about 2am on August 29, 2021, Player was at the Studio 146 nightclub standing against the nightclub’s bar with his former partner. The victim, who was “heavily intoxicated and was unsteady on his feet”, had been dancing “close” to Player’s ex-partner about half an hour beforehand. When Player’s former partner walked past the victim, he reached out and touched her arm, causing Player to immediately move towards the victim, who was not looking in Player’s direction, and punch the side of his head without warning. The victim immediately fell backwards on to the ground, where he lay unresponsive for 10 minutes. He was helped by bystanders, including an off-duty nurse, until paramedics and police officers arrived shortly afterwards. Player was taken away by the nightclub’s security guards. The incident was captured on CCTV footage. The victim was taken to Albany Health Campus for three days where he was treated for his injuries, including a subarachnoid haemorrhage on the left side of his brain. A medical report dated September 13, 2021, said the bleeding on the victim’s brain “was of a nature to cause, or be likely to cause, permanent injury to his health without treatment”. The injury caused him to suffer two seizures, and he had to take anti-seizure medication for several months. Judge Sarah Russell told the court Player’s lawyer said the victim touched Player’s ex-partner on the bottom while they were dancing near each other, but Judge Russell said from the material presented to her she could not “determine one way or the other” if the victim had touched the woman’s bottom. The judge said that even if the victim had done so, and then touched her arm about 30 minutes later, there was “no reason” for Player to punch the victim. “I do not consider any such conduct on behalf of (the victim) to amount to significant provocation to warrant you behaving in the way that you did,” Judge Russell said. “Your actions were unprovoked and out of all proportion for the circumstances you were in.” The Judge said although the victim was larger than Player, he was “particularly vulnerable” to the attack as he was heavily intoxicated and struck from behind without warning. Judge Russell referred to a victim impact statement written by the victim, who “suffered some time after leaving the hospital” and had “sleepless nights” thinking about the impact of the assault. The victim said the assault meant he is now nervous when he goes out and he no longer plays sport as he is worried about hitting his head again. “It’s clear, Mr Player, that your actions, whilst momentary and a matter of seconds, the effect on (the victim) has been significant and long-lasting,” Judge Russell said. The judge said Player’s offending was “serious, while not the most serious offending of its kind”. “It had a number of serious features, as I have referred to, which put it outside the lower end of the range of seriousness of offending of this nature, in my view,” Judge Russell said. She said Player was in a “poor emotional state” because of several personal hardships at the time of the offence, which had led to an “accumulating effect”, leading Player to drink more alcohol than usual and use illicit drugs. Judge Russell told the court Player had taken methamphetamine before going out on the night of the offence. “Whilst it appears your actions were fuelled to some extent by emotional distress, grief, alcohol and drugs, those are matters that put your offending in context and go some way to explaining why you behaved as you did that night,” Judge Russell said. “They do not excuse it. “It was a senseless act with the potential for far more serious harm.” The judge said she would treat the offending as “out of character” for Player after reading several positive character references, and she recognised he had demonstrated remorse over the incident. Player was sentenced to 18 months in prison and made eligible for parole. He is required to serve a minimum prison term of nine months.