What is a Common Assault?

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A former Finks motorcycle gang member Kahan Umit was brutally beaten and stabbed by two motorcycle gang members.

32-year-old Umit was stabbed and punched during a brutal assault in Dandenong, Melbourne last year in March weeks after having removed himself from the Finks motorcycle gang.

The ex-fink member was approached and confronted by four men, including 48-year-old Lee Martin and 32-year-old Joseph Muratore outside a factory when the assault took place.

Following the attack, Umit was left on his own bleeding on the ground with life threatening injuries, as the perpetrators fled the scene.

Emergency surgery was performed at the Alfred Hospital in order to desperately repair his spine and rib fractures, and a punctured lung from the stabbing.

According to police, Umit had said that he believed he had exited the motorcycle gang on good terms after having left the gang only a few weeks prior.

Despite lawyers for Muratore and Martin telling the County Court of Victoria that the attack was not gang related, Her Honour Judge Elizabeth Gaynor rejected that submission.

Her Honour said, “I feel as if I’m dealing with a pair of immature teenagers.. if he had died, you would have been facing a murder charge…”.

Muratore was sentenced to 3 years and four months imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to offences of recklessly cause serious injury in addition to weapons and drug offences.

Muratore was arrested last year in May when police found samurai swords in his bedroom, drugs and a sawn-off shotgun following a search of his home.

Martin, who pleaded guilty to common assault and a driving offence was sentenced without an imprisonment term imposed.

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What is a Common Assault?

The offence of common assault is outlined under section 61 of the Crime Act 1900 (NSW) carrying up to two years imprisonment.

Common assault is an assault where actual bodily harm is not occasioned.

Further, common assault occurs when a person commits a voluntary and intentional act to the victim, intentionally or recklessly causing either the infliction of unlawful force or an apprehension of immediate and unlawful violence (i.e. threat), without consent and without a lawful excuse (i.e. self-defence).

An actual bodily harm is any injury that interferes with the health and comfort of the victim, which does not have to be permanent, but must be more than merely transient or trifling.

Published on 27/09/2023