Accused placed on corrections orders, 'must' get convicted for Albury affray

Joel Rodney Turner and Brandon Butt each pleaded guilty in Albury Local Court on Monday to single charges of affray over the incident from October 2.

Police estimated that up to 10 young men were involved in the brawl, outside the old courthouse in Dean Street.

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The two groups of men had argued outside the Public House bar, then on meeting again minutes later, about 8.35pm, began to fight.

But neither man's offending that night was connected to a separate incident that occurred later on where an Albury police officer trying to help secure the arrest of another man was allegedly kicked to the head by a reveller from Wodonga.

Those who have been dealt with in recent weeks on identical charges have received community corrections orders.

Turner and Butt received six-month orders yesterday from magistrate Richard Funston, who said they had to be convicted.

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Turner, 22, of Thurgoona, was the first to face court, with defence lawyer Mark Cronin entering the guilty plea before registrar Wendy Howard.

Soon after, Mr Cronin told Mr Funston that Turner was a well-respected young man who had never been in trouble before.

"This incident precedes by some considerable time the far more serious matter," he said.

Mr Cronin said Turner was picked out by members of another group outside Public House that night because of the profile afforded to him by his brother being drafted by an AFL club.

"Unfortunately, when these young men come back to country towns they are targeted," he said.

Mr Cronin said that once "things got heated" between the two groups, his client got involved - ostensibly by rushing to the aid of Butt, who had been "coward-punched" during the brawl.

Turner then briefly got involved in the violence, too.

"He certainly had nothing to do with what happened later on," Mr Cronin said.

Lawyer Jason Hanke, for Butt, said the Albury man, 21, had "no prior history, no violent history" and that Turner "is my client's best friend".

Mr Hanke said Butt, who suffered a laceration in the brawl during which he threw punches, was distressed by witnessing, at Albury hospital, the aftermath of the serious injury sustained by the police officer and the distress this caused his family.

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