Source : the age
A prominent Brisbane real estate agent convicted of an overseas assault is fighting in court to get his licence reinstated, claiming his business is suffering as others stand to gain financially from his downfall.
Last year Tony O’Doherty, formerly the principal at McGrath Bulimba, pleaded guilty and received a two-year fully suspended sentence for a 2013 one-punch assault on a man outside a nightclub in Ireland.
The victim suffered a fractured skull and a bleed to his brain.
O’Doherty’s legal team are appealing against a decision by the Office of Fair Trading to cancel his licence.
Under the Property Occupations Act 2014, a person is considered unsuitable to hold a real estate licence if they were convicted within the previous five years, regardless of when the conduct occurred.
Justice Soraya Ryan on Wednesday heard arguments from O’Doherty’s barrister, Rob Anderson KC, who said there was urgency in the case, given the agent’s livelihood had been curtailed by the automatic termination of his licence.
Anderson put forward arguments around the interpretation of the law, including whether a foreign offence should be included under Queensland law.
He told the court there was no option in the Irish criminal justice system to not record convictions, whereas under Queensland law, a judge would consider aspects of a defendant’s life, such as their occupation.
He said the impact on O’Doherty’s real estate licence was not considered by the Irish judge.
Barrister Angus Scott KC, representing the Department of Justice, said the law was in place to protect the community and consumers.
“The ultimate point we make throughout this legislation is it is concerned with the protection of the community,” he said, adding that the criteria under the law considered whether the offence involved violence.
Speaking outside court, O’Doherty said the loss of his licence had had a detrimental impact on his business, and the McGrath team were hopeful it would be short term.
“It is an incredible attack on the business, and I’m going to go against my legal advice and say that this is an attack on me,” he said.
“It is an attack. Let’s just say other people stand to gain commercially and financially by my downfall, and they have not been silent.”
O’Doherty said he took full responsibility for what happened more than a decade ago, saying he made a poor decision. He said there had been an altercation, and he wished it never happened.
“I think a lot of the media’s coverage hasn’t been in its entirety, and it never is,” he said.
“The night in question was by no means a brutal attack, which is what the headlines have been. I’m not condoning my behaviour.”
He questioned how many other people with criminal convictions were operating in the real estate industry after cases the media had not covered.
The Limerick Post reported that O’Doherty was at the Club Mission nightclub in Newcastle West when the victim, James Fitzgerald, threw a glass over his shoulder, which smashed near O’Doherty and splashed a drink on him.
Fitzgerald, who was severely drunk at the time, was removed from the nightclub by security.
O’Doherty ran after Fitzgerald and confronted him, hitting him in the jaw. He was sent backwards and banged his head into a door, according to the Limerick Post.
Ryan reserved her decision for a later date.
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