Three accused of fatal assault of Danny Talbot in Bunbury return to court

Three men accused of playing a role in the death of a Bunbury father during a 2019 street brawl are on trial defending their involvement in the fatal one punch attack. In May 2019, Danny Talbot was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital where he was pronounced brain dead less than 24 hours after he was punched in the back of the head on Victoria Street. Australind man Gregory Colin Humphries, 22, Carey Park man Jonathon Lee Humphries, 20 and Armadale man Kirk Angus Boyce, 27, appeared in Busselton District Court this week defending the assault charges. Each plead not guilty on Monday charged with unlawfully assaulting another who died as a direct or indirect result and assault causing bodily harm. In the opening day of trial the jury was told an hour and a half after an incident between Mr Talbot and Gregory Humphries inside Fitzgerald’s Irish Pub, Mr Talbot and his son Callan were assaulted by the four men. State prosecutor Craig Astill told the jury the now deceased man was on Bunbury’s main street with his children Callan and Holly when Gregory Humphries left the bar and beelined towards the group. Pushing Mr Talbot to the ground, the confrontation quickly turned into a “street fight” supported by Jonathon Humphries and Mr Kirk. “It happened in less than a minute but proved to be fatal,” he said. While neither of the men made the final deadly blow, Mr Astill argued had the trio not supported each other in the assault, Mr Talbot would not have died. Mr Astill also claimed during the brawl all three men punched both Danny and Callan Humphries at least once. In stark contrast to the State’s case, all three men were positioned as victims and innocent bystanders according to each of their defence lawyers. Gregory Humphries’ defence lawyer Michael Joubert told the court the earlier incident inside the pub was the catalyst for the ordeal, with his client simply acting in self defence. “The deceased, a person completely unknown to Gregory Humphries... took offence at the expression ‘bro’ and he headbutted Gregory Humphries,” he said. “It was an unprovoked assault by the deceased that set off a chain of events in motion.” Mr Joubert claimed Mr Talbot and his son continued to threaten his client and would “wait outside” for him, causing his client to fear for his life and instinctively defend himself when they met again in the street. He argued when the jury saw the CCTV played during the trial they would also see Mr Talbot encouraging the fight. Similarly both Jonathon Humphries and Mr Kirk’s lawyers also told the jury their clients were innocent bystanders, trying to break up the fight rather than assist in the deathly assault. In the first day of evidence, the jury heard tearful recounts of the night from Mr Talbot’s children Callan and Holly Talbot who described seeing their father “bleeding and shivering” after being attacked. Callan Talbot told the jury he “did what any brother would do” and joined in the fight to protect his father, however was kept away by Jonathon Humphries and Mr Boyce. The trial continues this week.