source : the age
By Perry Duffin
A teenager has been charged after dozens of young people descended on another teenager in front of shocked diners on Manly’s waterfront.
NSW Police, on Friday evening, arrested an 18-year-old man at Bonnyrigg, a suburb more than an hour’s drive from Manly.
The 18-year-old was taken to Fairfield police station and charged with riot and affray before being released by officers under conditional bail. He will appear in Manly Local Court on January 29.
Police released images of Nine CEO Matt Stanton (striped shirt) and an unidentified man (blue shirt) who helped save a teenager from a massive brawl in Manly on January 6.Credit: NSW Police
He is the first arrest under Strikeforce Crookhaven, which was set up to investigate the brawl by trawling through CCTV footage and speaking to witnesses.
The acting CEO of Nine Entertainment, Matt Stanton, can be identified as one of the diners who rushed to save the victim as he was hauled into a restaurant from the clutches of the mob.
Stanton was dining with his wife at a restaurant near Manly Wharf, on the evening of January 6, when he heard a crowd roaring down the street outside.
Diners and tourists could only watch as the group of about 40 young people began punching and kicking a single teenage boy, who had dropped to the ground in the fray.
One couple rushed in and pulled the boy from the mob, before being punched, spat on and hit with bottles.
They dragged the boy, who was “screaming for his life” according to his rescuer, into the Fratelli Fresh restaurant nearby and tried to block the door.
“I could hear screaming from a lady in Fratelli Fresh telling people to get out,” Stanton told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, which are owned by Nine Entertainment.
Police arrive at the scene to disperse the crowd outside Manly Wharf.Credit: Manly Observer
“I could see the gang trying to get in the door.”
Stanton, who was appointed acting CEO last September following the resignation of Mike Sneesby, ran over, braced the door and faced down members of the mob.
“It was natural instinct – probably a stupid instinct as my wife told me afterward,” Stanton said on Sunday.
“I just held the door and said, ‘No, no, you’re not coming in’.”
Young males from the mob twice spat in Stanton’s face as they tried to menace him into moving out of the way.
Others pushed him and yelled out, ordering him to open the door.
“How I didn’t lose my cool and give them a smack, I don’t know,” he said. “That’s probably what I’m most proud of.”
Over the weekend, police released images of Stanton and a second man who helped block the door into the restaurant, asking for help to identify them.
Matt Stanton, Nine’s acting CEO.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
Stanton has since made contact with Northern Beaches police.
They are still working to track the second man, who helped Stanton block the door, who is described as Caucasian, aged in his 40s, wearing a blue T-shirt and denim shorts.
Stanton said the attackers were mostly young – teenagers to young adults – and eventually gave up trying to get the boy sheltering in the restaurant.
They left as police arrived and began rounding them up. Police found a large knife in the street as the group dispersed.
Stanton said he hadn’t even thought the assailants might have been armed.
“It was quite shocking to see, quite frightening, I’ve never seen anything like it in the 15 years I’ve been going down there,” Stanton said.
“Running over there was a bit stupid, but I was just trying to do the right thing. What would have happened if they got in?”
One local couple who had been enjoying dinner in the area said they spotted the group appearing to kick and punch a young teenage boy in the middle of the street.
The couple, who posted about their experience on social media, said they rushed into the street to try to stop the assault.
Simon, who did not provide his last name, said the group had turned on his partner, Renee, when she had tried to intervene.
“I was bottled and Renee was spat on multiple times,” he said. “Then we ran him across to [restaurant Fratelli Fresh], who sheltered him.”
The couple helped to block the entrance to the restaurant while the teen, who Simon said had been “screaming for his life”, escaped.
with Penry Buckley
