10 years for beach bashing

Two men who brutally bashed a Whangarei Heads lifeguard have been sent to jail for 10 years.
Les Tasos Connelly, 28, and Georgie Abraham Ngaau, 23, will both serve a minimum of six years after Judge John McDonald gave the toughest minimum non-parole term possible - 60 per cent of the overall sentence.
Connelly and Ngaau were found guilty in May by a jury of causing grievous bodily harm, with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, to Whangarei Heads lifeguard Jim Bidois on December 3, 2006.
Their co-accused, Brandon Cole McMahon, 19, was found not guilty on that charge but had earlier pleaded guilty to assaulting a junior lifeguard - the initial attack that prompted Mr Bidois to intervene.
At their sentencing in the Whangarei District Court yesterday, Crown prosecutor Mike Smith said a starting point should be 10 to 12 years' imprisonment because of the extreme violence involved, the serious injuries inflicted, that most of the attack was to Mr Bidois' head, the number of attackers involved, and that the lifeguard was a public official.
Connelly's lawyer, Chris Muston, said an appropriate starting point was three to six years. Mr Muston said Connelly was extremely sorry for what had happened.
Ngaau's lawyer, John Watson, submitted that the right sentence was five to 10 years' jail. Mr Watson said the pair had a misguided desire to come to the aid of a junior member of their party - McMahon - whom they thought was being attacked by Mr Bidois.
But Judge McDonald said that 10 years was the right starting point for the pair. The maximum penalty is 14 years' jail.
The judge said McMahon was the catalyst for the beating and had been drunk and spoiling for a fight from the moment they arrived at Ocean Beach that afternoon. Connelly and Ngaau, as the elders of the group, should have intervened to stop him, but instead saw it as an excuse to "beat somebody up".
McMahon had assaulted a junior lifeguard while Mr Bidois and another lifeguard had watched through binoculars from the clubhouse. It was as Mr Bidois and the other lifeguard arrived to help that Mr Bidois was attacked by Connelly and then Ngaau.
"Neither Mr Bidois or (the other lifeguard) can be criticised in any way for doing that. It would be a sorry state if everybody had to stay away when they saw the type of behaviour McMahon was exhibiting ... a sorry state if our community just walked past, turned away their head and continued on," Judge McDonald said.
"As Mr Bidois was punched from one side he would turn to that threat and be blind-punched (from the other side) by the other. He had no chance against you. He was knocked to the ground a number of times and struggled to get up only to be knocked down again."
* Couple left to pick up pieces
Nineteen months after being brutally bashed at Ocean Beach, lifeguard Jim Bidois still can't drive, travel long distances or resume his job as a builder.
But yesterday Jim and wife Sue welcomed the 10-year jail term handed down to his two bashers - Black Power associates Les Connelly and Georgie Ngaau.
Jim is still suffering serious effects from the beating on December 3, 2006 - meted out when he went to help a young lifeguard who had been assaulted by Connelly and Ngaau's associate, Brandon McMahon - and was unable to attend the sentencing.
But Sue was there, as she had been for most appearances of her husband's attackers.
Sue and her husband had hoped that the pair would get longer jail terms but, with the maximum sentence allowed being 14 years' jail, they were satisfied with 10.
"I wanted them to get some time. We've got a good long sentence from this - we've been given a life sentence to some degree - so we wanted it to be a good sentence for them too," she said.
Sue said Jim did not dwell on the assault and the court case but welcomed the sentence.
He now faced years of frustration as he tried to regain the fit and active life he had before.
"He loved being a lifeguard. That was his passion. He still loves going to the beach but he doesn't go as often or stay there as long. He gets really tired and can't concentrate. Physically, he's not up to what he used to be," she said.
"He can't surf or go out in the IRB because of his injuries and he finds that frustrating. He's doing other things, like coaching kids' soccer, so he's still out there helping people ... but he doesn't have the passion for things that he used to have and that's possibly because he can't do what he used to."
Sue said her husband could no longer drive or even travel long distances as a passenger, which meant his independence was gone.
He might never work as a builder again and faced long rehabilitation before he could return to any form of work. Fatigue was also a problem, with Jim needing to take rests during the day to preserve his energy.
"He's probably only good for a few hours awake, then he needs a rest. It's really, really hard and frustrating for him. He was always so fit and active."
The attack had also affected their children, with Jim no longer able to take part in many of the activities he used to enjoy with them.
It was revealed during the sentencing that Ngaau, with 17 previous convictions, was on bail for another assault when he attacked Jim, while Connelly had 42 previous convictions, including one for violence.
Sue said a message needed to be sent that violent offending was "just not on".
"I think the public is sick of all this," she said.