A 34-year-old Australian is likely to face a manslaughter or murder charge following the death of an Irish father of two in an incident in Perth over Christmas, a court in Australia has heard.
Andrew Doan appeared at Perth Magistrate's Court on Wednesday charged with causing grievous bodily harm to Charlie McCarthy from Aghada near Midleton in east Cork.
Mr McCarthy (32) was walking with his wife Nicole and a friend on Riverside Road in East Freemantle in Perth at around 1.30am on December 23rd when a row broke out with two anglers on the road.
It is unclear what prompted the row with the anglers but Mr McCarthy was struck on the head with an object causing him serious injury and he collapsed on the ground in front of his wife and friend.
Mr McCarthy was rushed by St John’s Ambulance to Royal Perth Hospital where his condition was assessed as critical and he was put on a life support machine in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
His brother Daniel and other family members travelled over the Christmas holiday from their home in Aghada to Perth to be at his bedside before the life support machine was switched off.
According to the PerthNow website, Mr Doan from the Perth suburb of Joondanna appeared at Perth Magistrate Court where he was charged with causing grievous bodily harm to Mr McCarthy.
It is alleged that Mr Doan struck Mr McCarthy in the head with an object, causing him to fall to the ground and resulting in the serious injury which led to him being hospitalised.
During a bail application, the lawyer for Mr Doan said his client had first been charged on December 24th and his actions were more consistent with self-defence or accident, according to PerthNow.
He described Mr Doan as a compassionate, generous, kind and harmless father and said the accused intended to defend himself whenever the case comes to trial at a later stage.
The bail application was opposed by police prosecutors, who argued it would be inappropriate to release Mr Doan from custody when the matter was likely to be sent to a higher court.
Magistrate Dianne Scaddan adjourned the application until next month pending the outcome of the post mortem on Mr McCarthy and remanded Mr Doan in custody to appear again on January 3rd.
She told the court she was “not unsympathetic” to the submissions made on behalf of Mr Doan but said it would be inappropriate to make a decision without further information.
The late Mr McCarthy emigrated from Ireland in the 2000s but returned to Ireland for a period with his Australian born wife, Nicole before again returning to Perth to make a life for themselves.
The couple, who have two children, Ciara (5) and Niall (2), live in the Perth suburb of Atwell and Mr McCarthy worked for a local Perth company, laying cables in construction projects.
