Noah Balta has been sentenced to a three-month curfew that will prevent the Richmond defender from playing in the club’s Anzac Day eve clash.
Albury Local Court has ordered that Balta not leave his house between 10pm and 6am for the next three months after he assaulted a man outside Mulwala Water Ski Club on December 30.
Richmond’s Noah Balta will have to abide by a curfew for the next three months, which will restrict him from travelling interstate and playing matches at night.Credit: AFL Photos
Balta, 25, pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to an 18-month community correction order and fined $3000.
A condition of the order is the three-month curfew, which also means he cannot drink alcohol until July 22.
The ruling means Balta will not be able to play for Richmond at night or on interstate trips, because of the curfew.
Richmond have two fixtured night games during the period of Balta’s ban, and a trip to Sydney to play the Giants in a twilight match. The fixture is not set from round 16 onwards, but the Tigers are due to play West Coast in Perth before Balta’s curfew expires.
The court heard that Balta paid his victim $45,000 in compensation for the damage his attack caused.
It also heard Balta had been on a pub crawl in Yarrawonga and Mulwala in the lead-up to the attack and was intoxicated.
The victim was standing between Balta’s brother, Oscar, and another man trying to defuse an argument and prevent a fight.
When Balta walked out of the ski club, he saw the victim touch his brother on the face, an action designed to calm him down.
Instead, Balta thought he had to protect his brother and charged at the victim and sent him flying to the concrete ground. He then punched the victim on the ground between six and seven times, leaving him with a three-centimetre cut to left side of his forehead that started bleeding profusely, as well as lumps to the head and a broken rib.
The footballer’s lawyer said he had not touched alcohol since that night.
While the court could not be satisfied to a high probability that the attack presented a high risk of death, it found that the unprovoked assault on a man minding his own business was in the mid-range of seriousness.
More to come
