Steven Mawhinney after the assault The man who assaulted Ivy Bar manager Steven Mawhinney has escaped jail after the prosecution withdrew an assertion his behaviour was homophobic. Adrian Sherman has been sentenced to four months’ community detention, a curfew of 7pm till 7am, six months’ supervision and ordered to pay Mawhinney $450 reparation. He admitted assaulting duty manager, Mawhinney, at Ivy Bar on August 22 last year. Sherman had entered Ivy Bar with another man, and a woman – the group had not realised they were in a gay bar. As they were leaving Sherman’s associate is said to have shouted a homophobic comment and thrown a can of alcohol at a patron, and violence broke out. Mawhinney tried to break up the fight and was assaulted by Sherman, and was hit in the head a number of times. Sherman’s lawyer Steven Lack today submitted that his client's actions were not homophobic, and that it was an associate, who has not been charged, who had shouted homophobic slurs in the bar – and continued the assault on Mawhinney. The prosecution today agreed that the facts didn’t show a 'homophobic stance' by Sherman, despite homophobia initially being listed as an aggravating factor. The judge said Sherman would likely have faced jail time, had an element of homophobia remained an aggravating factor. Mawhinney maintains Sherman was homophobic and the instigator of the assault, and is not happy with today’s result. Read more here: Ivy Bar Manager feels "hugely let down"
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 25th March 2015 - 12:51pm