A MAN was thrown over a 4m-high balcony after refusing to leave an apartment until he’d had sex with the tenant’s partner, a court has been told.
Steven Bartley, 49, of Mooloolaba, pleaded guilty to committing one count of grievous bodily harm – after the charge was downgraded from attempted murder – to Christopher Steven Jones, 34, in the Brisbane Supreme Court today. Bartley was sentenced to two and a half years prison, with his sentence to be suspended after six months, of which he has already served 84 days while in custody. The court was told that Bartley and his female partner left the Kawana Waters Tavern on the Sunshine Coast at 1am (AEST) on July 14, 2007, after an eight-hour drinking session.
After sharing a cab home with Jones and another male, the four decided to go back to Bartley’s apartment to participate in group sex, an activity that the couple had previously participated in several times. The court was told that when they arrived at the Sunshine Coast apartment, Bartley smoked some cannabis and went to sleep while his partner conducted oral sex on Mr Jones. However when the third male tried to participate, the woman became agitated and woke Bartley up.
The court heard Bartley then asked the men to leave the apartment, however Mr Jones refused. “I’m not leaving until I have sex with your missus,” the court was told Mr Jones said. At the time he made the comment Mr Jones was sitting on a couch with his penis visible. After about 15 minutes of shouting and a phone call to police, Bartley said he “lost it” and shoved Mr Jones, who weighed 55kg and was 160cm tall, out the door and over a balcony railing. Mr Jones fell more than 4m onto a concrete surface, landing on his head.
He was rushed to Nambour Hospital, where he received life-saving surgery to treat a fractured skull and a hematoma. In handing down the sentence, Justice Debra Mullins said Bartley must be embarrassed about the events that took place that night. “The complainant seemed to think he was going to stay in the unit for the purpose he had originally gone to the unit for,” Justice Mullins said. “That did not entitle you to use force in the degree you did, in the dangerous situation you were in.” Bartley said he was sorry for his actions, but he had been very patient with Mr Jones and never intended to hurt him by pushing him over a balcony.
“I was very patient with that person, I ended up losing my patience,” Bartley said. “If I wanted to hurt him, I could have, just like that.”
