Three seconds of a drunken rage following a homophobic attack led to three men being hospitalised and one man facing court for his actions.
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Charlie Jack Gill, 22, had been to various nightclubs in Ballarat on the night of January 23, 2021 before the attack happened just before 3am the next morning in a public area.
One male approached Gill's family group outside Volta nightclub to have a conversation about homophobic comments a female had allegedly made earlier in the night.
The man then walked away and sat on a bench seat with two others, before Gill and the group approached them again, with one of the females making further comments and questioning their sexual orientation.
The Ballarat Magistrates' Court heard Gill took off his hoodie and readjusted his cap before striking one victim to the neck, another twice to the face and the third victim once, causing him to lose consciousness.
Three seconds is enough to ruin anyone's life.
- Magistrate Hugh Radford
The attack played out in three seconds and Gill and his family members then walked away and caught a taxi home.
The three victims were taken to hospital. One required 15 stitches on a 15 centimetre cut to his upper lip and another needed eight stitches for his cut in the same place.
Gill was later arrested and told police he was so drunk he could not remember what had happened.
Defence lawyer Manny Nicolosi said Gill knew he was in a 'serious situation', but he had no prior convictions and there had been no offending since.
He said Gill had grown up around violence and had issues to address.
Magistrate Hugh Radford gave a sentence indication on Wednesday and said he would likely impose a community corrections order and a fine for the charges of intentionally causing injury and assault.
"He has exhibited genuine remorse, he is a relatively young man and he comes before the court with no priors but has pretty well entered the big league with his conduct," he said.
"Three seconds is enough to ruin anyone's life."
Gill accepted the sentence indication and entered a plea of guilty.
He will be assessed for a community corrections order and return to court next week for final sentencing.
Mr Radford warned a term of imprisonment was in the range if Gill did not perform well in his corrections order assessment.
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