Shovel-swinging licensee ruled unfit

A New South Wales publican has given liquor licensing authorities an undertaking that he will not run a pub for five years after he was convicted of assaulting his brother using a shovel.

Police first complained to the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA) in July last year seeking a declaration that the licensee and part-owner of the Royal Hotel in Hill End, in the state's central west, was unfit to hold a liquor licence.

Police claimed that the publican, who authorities heard suffers from mental illness, had ongoing domestic issues with his family that were playing out on the hotel premises. 

They submitted that he had misused his position as licensee by ejecting patrons from the hotel "for no apparent reason".

Subsequent to that, the publican was convicted on June 14 this year of one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm following a domestic dispute.

The publican received a12-month good behaviour bond over the incident, in which he flung a shovel at his brother, causing him to be hospitalised for a fractured skull. 

ILGA chairperson Chris Sidoti last month ruled the publican was not a fit and proper person to hold a liquor licence, purely on the basis of the assault conviction.

At the authority's request, the publican provided a statutory declaration that he would not acquire or seek to acquire the status of licensee of any other venue in NSW for a period of five years.

Acknowledging that the Royal Hotel had since been sold to a third party, Sidoti exercised the authority's discretion to not take any further action against the publican.

Source: The Shout, 26 November 2012