May 22, 2008

Inanimate casualty in mall brawl

A mannequin was the major casualty of a brawl in Eastgate Mall.

Two of the four combatants appeared in the Christchurch District Court today to plead guilty to charges of fighting in a public place.

Timothy Israel Clark, a cabinetmaker, and Christopher Milne, 18, a joiner, got into a confrontation with two other males outside the Farmers shop in the mall at 2.15pm on Sunday April 27.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Ash Tabb said the mall was busy and many children were present when the confrontation got physical.

Passersby broke it up, but he said a display stand was caught up in the melee and broken.

That turned out to be a mannequin.

Defence counsel Tony Garrett said one of the young men in the dock had gone to the aid of the other. There were strong elements of self-defence of another person, but the pair were pleading guilty.

?When the mannequin went flying, the public got involved and they were caught on the mall security cameras,? he explained.

Judge David Holderness convicted them but only ordered them to pay a half-share each for the damage to the injured party.

They will each have to pay $128 to Farmers for breaking the mannequin.