The man charged with headbutting Tony Abbott kept drinking instead of calling an ambulance after a friend fell down the stairs and fatally hit his head.
Mark Leslie Green suffered serious head injuries after drinking, taking ecstasy, and smoking marijuana with Astro ‘DJ Funknukl’ Labe and three other friends.
He died two days later on December 27, 2009, after a haemorrhage resulting from the fall left him brain dead, according to a 2010 coronial investigation into his death.
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Astro Labe, 38, was charged with headbutting Tony Abbott in Hobart last week
Labe, 38, bragged about the alleged assault on former prime minister Abbott last week, saying he ‘seized a moment’ after a few drinks.
The Hobart DJ drank heavily on that night eight years ago too, as the group started at 6.30pm and were ‘significantly intoxicated’ by about 10pm.
It was then Mr Green, 29, a married kitchen hand, fell down a flight of concrete stairs leading from the balcony to the footpath below the apartment block.
Labe, George Falconer, who lived at the flat, and Johnathan Daniels rushed to Mr Green’s aid and carried him back to the balcony where they laid him on a bench.
They and Meg Collins did a ‘cursory inspection’ and finding he was still breathing and had no obvious injuries, left him on the bench and continued socialising.
‘The response by this group of people was obviously less than what was reasonably called for in the circumstances, given the significant fall that Mr Green had taken,’ coroner Stephen Carey said in his report, made without an inquest.
In 2009 Labe kept drinking instead of calling an ambulance after his friend Mark Green fell down the stairs and fatally hit his head
The DJ, who was wearing a ‘Vote Yes’ sticker on his jacket at the time of the assault, insisted his actions were not related to the marriage equality campaign
‘Some attempts were made to wake him and this was unsuccessful but he was noted to be snoring and so he was left on the bench whilst the group continued to socialise.’
Mr Green lay on the bench with skull fracture for four hours while a large subdural haematoma caused his brain to swell, without an ambulance being called.
About 2am, Labe and Mr Daniels left in a taxi and Mr Falconer went for a walk, returning about 2.40am to find Mr Green in distress.
‘He noted that Mr Green was having trouble breathing as he was lying on his back and was gargling,’ Mr Carey said.
‘He rolled Mr Green’s head to the left to clear his airway at which time Mr Green coughed blood.’
Mr Falconer then at 3.09am called an ambulance that rushed Mr Green to Royal Hobart Hospital, where he was declared brain dead the next morning.
Life support was turned off and Mr Green died of cardiac arrest at 9.25pm that night.
Labe (pictured) was drinking, taking ecstasy and smoking marijuana with four other friends on December 25, 2009, when Mr Green fell down the concrete stairs and smashed his head
Is this the damage inflicted by the alleged headbutt? (pictured is Tony Abbott during a Friday morning press conference)
Mr Carey slammed Labe and his friends for not calling the victim an ambulance and not making more of an effort to assess his health.
The coroner noted the skull fracture did not directly injure the brain and the brain bleed built up slowly over time as he lay on the bench.
‘Timely neurosurgical evacuation of the SDH may have altered the outcome,’ he said.
‘The failure of those other persons present when Mr Green suffered his injury to more positively act to assess his health state could well therefore have contributed to his death.
‘This tragic case once again highlights the social and personal effects of alcohol abuse.’
Despite a head injury killing his friend eight years earlier, Labe last week bragged about allegedly headbutting Mr Abbott as he saw him walking down the street
Despite a head injury killing his friend eight years earlier, Labe last week bragged about allegedly headbutting Mr Abbott as he saw him walking down the street.
‘I decided I’m never going to get the opportunity to head butt that c*** again so I seized a moment,’ he told 7 News.
The DJ, who was wearing a ‘Vote Yes’ sticker on his jacket at the time of the assault, insisted his actions were not related to the marriage equality campaign.
‘It has absolutely nothing to do with marriage equality, that was just coincidental that someone had stuck a sticker on my jacket,’ he said.
‘It was not what I was thinking about, I was thinking “there’s Tony Abbott, I’m going to headbutt him”.
‘It was nothing really remotely to do with that. It’s just about Tony Abbott — The f***ing worm that he is.
‘All it was is I saw Tony Abbott and I’d had half a skinful and I wanted to nut the c***.’
Mr Abbott (pictured, right) had four amateur bouts while a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, fighting as a 95 kilogram heavyweight and winning each encounter
Mr Abbott (pictured, right) and a staffer were seen walking through Hobart through CCTV footage moments before he was allegedly attacked
Describing the incident, Labe said he had had a few drinks beforehand.
‘I was like “Tony, Tony”. I kind of trotted up behind him. I trotted up behind him, “I just want to shake your hand” and just went bang. Kind of missed it. Gave him a fat lip.’
Labe said he returned to the pub after the alleged headbutt and had a couple of shots of scotch.
The self-described anarchist said his opinions on the former prime minister had not changed, but he would apologise for his actions.
‘I’m an anarchist, he’s an evil c***,’ he said.
Labe was granted conditional bail, and will appear in Hobart Magistrates Court on October 23.
Mr Abbott, who was awarded a top prize for boxing at Oxford and emerged without visible injury from the alleged encounter, wasn’t impressed by his alleged assailant.
‘He wasn’t very good at it I’ve got to say,’ Mr Abbott told Andrew Bolt, and described the alleged headbutt as ‘not very effective’ at a Hobart press conference on Friday.
‘The only damage was a very, very slightly swollen lip.’
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