Memory loss for pub assault victim

Herald Sun

Picture: Crimestoppers

The man police wish to speak to about an assault

A MAN has handed himself in to police after a photo-bombing thug left a good Samaritan with a broken nose in an unprovoked pub attack.

Police this morning said a man handed himself into a local police station in Melbourne’s southeast.

No charges have been laid.

A photobomber was all smiles when he crashed a photo with a group of women at Richmond’s Swan Hotel, even giving the camera the thumbs-up.

But the night soured when innocent pub-goer Frederick Cooper — a friend of the girls — asked the man to calm down following a scuffle in which Mr Cooper’s female housemate was inadvertently hit in the mouth.

Mr Cooper, 22, was punched in the nose, breaking it in three places, and sustained several blows to the head. He is due to have surgery next week.

“I didn’t really get to finish my sentence and he just clocked me,’’ Mr Cooper said.

“I was a bit shocked. I didn’t really know what was happening and then he threw another one. You just can’t go around doing that to people.”

Mr Cooper sustained a badly broken nose in the attack.

The glazier, who recently completed his university studies, required medical treatment and has endured short-term memory loss, migraines and soreness.

“My face was all blown up, I couldn’t see out of my left eye for three days and then once all that swelling went down, my other eye went black because of the broken nose,’’ Mr Cooper said.

“I had two black eyes for about three weeks. And I’ve now got to get my nose ­rebroken.”

Senior Constable Amy Bisset of Yarra CIU said CCTV had captured the altercation, which occurred at the Swan St venue near the dancefloor on September 19, about 12.30am.

The man police want to question hijacks the photo.

The photobomb image was particularly clear in capturing a man police wish to speak with over the attack on Mr Cooper, she said.

“It is unprovoked,’’ Sen-Constable Bisset added.

“He was just trying to step in and assist a female. It could have been much more severe if he landed on his head.”

Hotel security staff ­detained the alleged offender but police were not called on the night.

The man detectives wish to speak with is caucasian, 180-190cm, aged between 25 and 30 and of medium build.

He wore tan pants, a light-coloured T-shirt and blue long-sleeved jumper, which was removed during the night.