August 20, 2010LINKTwo men have been jailed over the death of 25-year-old Canadian man Cain Aguiar following a fight outside Yarraville's Blarney Stone pub last year.
Fostar Akoteu, 23, was this morning sentenced to 10 years' jail with a minimum of seven years' after he pleaded guilty earlier this month to manslaughter.
His friend, Sioeli Seau, 20, received an 18-month jail sentence with a minimum of 12 months after he pleaded guilty to common assault.
He is eligible to apply for parole now having already served 401 days awaiting sentence.
Another man will go to trial early next year over the incident, which the court heard was witnessed by several people.
Mr Aguiar died five days after a fight with the pair following a night out on July 9, 2009.
Justice Simon Whelan told Victoria's Supreme Court that a drunk Akoteu got jealous of a female friend spending time with Mr Aguiar at the hotel.
He said Akoteu had admitted during his police interview that Mr Agiuar did nothing to provoke the fight outside the pub after it closed.
Akoteu told several people, including Seau, that he planned to assault Mr Agiuar, Justice Whelan said.
Seau indicated he would support him, stating "don't worry about it ... I'll fight with him", before he approached Mr Aguiar and swung a punch.
Akoteu joined the fray as a security guard and another person tried to separate Mr Aguiar, who took off his jacket and took actions to defend himself.
"But he did not, at any stage, represent a threat to you or your friends," the judge said.
He added that while Seau had "instigated" the assault, Akoteu was the "principal aggressor". Another member of the group allegedly punched Mr Aguiar with considerable force, which caused him to hit his head on the ground.
"In the course of his fall his head struck the pavement with sufficient force to cause a sound which was heard by a number of bystanders," he said.
"Whilst he was lying unconscious, or at least helpless, with his head in the gutter, you either stomped on his head or kicked him in the head.
"As you stomped or kicked the head of this defenceless person, who had done nothing to provoke you and who represented no threat to you, you taunted him."
Akoteu agreed that he had said to Mr Aguiar: "Welcome to Australia, bitch".
"Mr Aguiar sustained serious injuries as a result of this attack," he said.
"He had a fractured cheekbone and a fracture which extended from the right temporal bone around the right base of the skull. He also had lacerations on his head and some other bruising."
His condition deteriorated later and on July 14, Mr Aguiar's parents, Issy and Tony, having arrived from Canada, made the decision to withdraw treatment. He died at 8.50pm that night.
Justice Whelan described the circumstances as the attack as "shocking" before he cited excerpts of Mrs Aguiar's victim impact statement.
It read: "Thirteen months have gone by and the shock and disbelief are as raw today as it was the day our son died. We have been irrevocably changed with our sense of the world now warped. Although we intellectually know the truth, our hearts often refuse to accept Cain is never coming back. We loved him and always will, and not a day goes by that we don't think of our son and remember all that he was to us".
He said both men, who have each fathered two children, had a history of drug and alcohol abuse.
He took into consideration their guilty pleas, remorse and good prospects of rehabilitation when sentencing.
