Adelaide nightclub manager Anthony Tropeano fights assault conviction
A conviction would be crushing for an Adelaide nightclub manager who has been found guilty of assaulting a patron, the District Court has heard.
Anthony Tropeano, 34, and two security staff, Wayne Ngaia, 45, and Jack Apostolodis, 60, were found guilty of assaulting a patron in late 2011 outside Red Square nightclub in Hindley Street in the city.
The victim, Daniel Polec, who is the brother of Port Adelaide AFL player Jared Polec, suffered a broken jaw and other head injuries.
Tropeano's lawyer Lindy Powell said the judge would have to determine the factual basis of the jury's verdict before sentencing the men and Tropeano was appealing against his conviction.
"This is a man who comes to you having worked in the hospitality industry for many, many years," she said.
"This commenced as a lawful restraint ... in terms of detaining Mr Polec until police arrived.
"In the course of that lawful detention there was excessive force used by those who were lawfully detaining him, but there is nothing putting Mr Tropeano as the one who used that excessive force.
"The jury's verdict must be based on 'spontaneous joint enterprise'."
Ms Powell said Tropeano was a hardworking man who could lose his liquor licence and lawyer's practising certificate if a conviction were recorded.
She said that would be devastating for Tropeano, his family and his business.
"Everything that this 34-year-old young man has worked so hard for is at risk," she argued.
"This conviction is very much out of character. He is a gentle man, he is a composed man, he is not a man who is given to violence or aggressive behaviour or even to losing his temper."
Prosecutor Geoff Powell said Apostolidis had committed most of the violence but Tropeano was most culpable because he should have called off the attack, being the person in charge of staff.
"The actual beating wasn't the result of some unexpected or unanticipated burst of violence. It looked practised, like it had happened before, so we say the offending was organised," he told the hearing.
"It was deliberate and conscious. There was no need for it at all. Mr Polec was on the ground. It was seven onto one."
He said it had been revenge for an earlier incident inside the nightclub.
"They did it not because they had to, but because they wanted to. They did it to punish him or for revenge," he said.
Mr Powell said he agreed Apostolidis had been struck while Mr Polec was being escorted out of the club.
"The beating ... had nothing to do with restraining him and waiting for the police. It was because Mr Apostolidis was angry," Mr Powell said.
"The only thing that stopped the beating was the arrival of police."
He told the court Tropeano told Apostolidis to stop the beating because he saw police arriving.
"It was his responsibility to prevent the beating of one of his patrons and, not only did he fail to prevent it, he permitted it happening and he actively participated in it," he said.
"Mr Tropeano was, overall, a corrupting influence on the street that night."
The court heard both Apostolidis and Ngaia had convictions for assaults on patrons during security work and both no longer worked in that industry.
Apostolidis's lawyer Martin Anders said his client's convictions were minor.
Ngaia's lawyer Stephen Aps said his client's actions were out of character and leniency was warranted in sentencing.
The men are due to be sentenced next month.
