Pub bashing accused found not guilty of manslaughter over Slug ‘n’ Lettuce punch

A man charged over a fatal bashing outside a British-themed pub in Adelaide’s north has been found not guilty of manslaughter, but the family of the victim say they are “extremely devastated” by the verdict. 

Lachlan McCluskey, 21, had faced a trial by judge alone in the South Australian District Court over the 2019 death of 46-year-old Julian Irish. 

He had been accused of punching Mr Irish after an altercation while both men waited outside the Slug ‘n’ Lettuce pub at Parafield Gardens for a ride-share vehicle.

In April last year, Mr McCluskey pleaded not guilty.

His defence lawyer Marie Shaw had previously told the court his “aggression was informed” by an operation he had two weeks earlier, which left metal plates and screws in his head.

Police were called to the hotel about 12:40am on the night of the incident, in June 2019, and found Mr Irish with serious injuries.

He was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital in a critical condition, but later died.

Mr McCluskey and another man allegedly present at the time of the incident were initially charged with murder.

However, prosecutors later said those charges had been downgraded to manslaughter.

The other man later had the charge against him dropped.

Judge Liesl Chapman conceded a text message sent by Mr McCluskey to a friend minutes after the altercation appeared “callous”.

“About 10 minutes after the incident, a text message was sent from the accused’s mobile phone to ‘Lomie’ which said, ‘Knocked some c*** out’,” she said in her judgement.

However, Judge Chapman accepted the defence’s case that Mr McCluskey — who had had a jaw operation “which involved the use of plates and screws and the removal of four wisdom teeth” shortly before the incident — had been concerned for his own safety, and was responding to aggression from Mr Irish.

“The accused found himself in circumstances where he was unexpectedly confronted with physical aggression by an older, taller and heavier man who was a stranger and intoxicated,” she said.

“I cannot exclude the possibility that the accused genuinely believed his punch was necessary and reasonable for a defensive purpose.

“I do not consider it can be safely said that at the time of the accused’s punch the deceased had ceased his attack upon the accused or his aggression had abated.”

Judge Chapman said that, in reaching her conclusion, she had “taken into account the text message from the accused’s phone after the charged incident”.

“It must be borne in mind that the accused was only 19 at the time of this charged offence. Further, he could not have had any idea at the time the text was sent that the deceased was going to die.

“There is no doubt that, with the benefit of hindsight, his immature bravado in a text sent 10 minutes after the offence appears callous.”

‘No justice’, family says

Outside court, the victim’s 17-year-old daughter Brooke Irish said her dad had been “painted out during the trial to be aggressive”.

“But he wasn’t like that at all,” she said.

“This sort of thing happens way too often. This case is obviously really devastating for everyone, but it happens way too often, and I think something should change.”

The victim’s ex-wife, and mother of his children, Esther Irish said her family had been left “extremely devastated” by the not-guilty verdict.

“I was gutted — there’s no words to describe when you hear those two words,” she said.

“He was a good, kind man, a hard-working man.

“There’s been no justice for Julian, Julian’s family and Julian’s loved ones.

“There’s been no justice for Julian’s two children who unfairly lost their father that night, through, you know, a senseless cowardly act, they now have to find the way to move forward in life without their dad. “