Shocking moment reveller is knocked out after calling a partygoer’s girlfriend fat during night out on busy Gold Coast strip
- A young Gold Coast father found guilty of assault after punching out reveller
- CCTV shows the victim had been harassing people on party strip before attack
- Court heard the victim had earlier insulted 25-year-old Taithum Cliffe’s girlfriend
A young father who viciously knocked out a reveller during a night out was provoked after the victim called the man’s girlfriend fat, a court has agreed.
Taitham Lee Cliffe, 25, fronted Southport Magistrates Court on Tuesday unsuccessfully fighting an assault charge over the early morning incident on the Gold Coast’s bustling Orchid Avenue in April.
CCTV footage of the attack shows Cliff walking up to the man and knocking him out cold with one fierce punch – but the footage also shows leading up to the attack the victim had been harassing multiple people on the street.
Taitham Cliffe, 25, outside Southport Magistrate’s Court after being found guilty of assault over the Gold Coast attack (pictured)
The clip shows the victim as wanders from nightclub and speaks to two glamorously dressed girls on the street who quickly ignore him and walk away.
He then turns his focus on another man exiting a venue and shapes up to him – fists raised and punching at the air.
When the partygoer ignores him he almost immediately begins speaking to another two girls sitting nearby and kicks one of them sharply in the leg when he doesn’t like her response.
He then saunters up Orchard Avenue where he encounters Cliff sitting on a park bench with his girlfriend as a police car is parked just metres away.
The court heard how the man yelled an insult at the mother-of three and can be seen in the security footage giving the pair the finger – prompting Cliff to get up from his seat.
Police bodycam footage from later showed her telling police: ‘I was eating chips and he goes f*** you, you fat s***’.
Cliff delivered a fierce blow to the victim (pictured) knocking him out cold in front of shocked bystander on Orchid Avenue
The CCTV shows the victim walking back along the street where the woman he had earlier kicked takes off her stiletto and attempts to strike him in the head.
Cliff can then be seen on the footage catching up to the man and delivering delivery a swift punch to the head, knocking the man out cold, with Cliff then following up with two punches while the man lays on the ground.
As stunned bystanders and paramedics rush to help the victim, Cliff return to his seat where he is later arrested by police.
The court heard the victim had earlier insulted Cliff’s girlfriend as the pair sat on a park bench with police parked just metres away on the road (pictured)
‘You under arrest at this stage for assault,’ an officer tells him.
‘All good, he hit a girl,’ Cliff replies.
On Tuesday, the magistrate agreed Cliff had been provoked, but added the force used in the punch was excessive and could have had a catastrophic outcome.
The magistrate found him guilty of assault and he will be sentenced when he returns to court in November.
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