Brawling town mob

By Kath Gannaway
AN ATTACK in the beer garden of the Grand Hotel in Healesville is said to have sparked an alcohol-fuelled brawl involving about 50 people outside the hotel in the early hours of Sunday 15 June.
One witness to the brawling described the scene as a “war zone” with police outnumbered by about 12 to one and hoon drivers taking advantage of their pre-occupation to stage burn-outs within a couple of hundred metres of the melee.
Healesville police arrived to find at least four groups of men and women fighting and brawling on the footpath after the hotel closed at 1pm.
Sergeant Tony Van Gorp said Healesville police called for back-up from Warburton to help control what was a disgusting indictment on the people involved.
Senior Constable Chris Grasby, one of the Healesville officers who was first on the scene, said officers had to use capsicum spray to break up one fight where a young girl had fallen to the ground.
Police are investigating claims in relation to an assault on a hotel patron just before closing time which they believe may have set the scene for the brawl.
“It appears towards the end of the night a female attending a birthday party on the balcony has verbally challenged a male in the bar area and abused him.
“The man has left the bar and gone into the beer garden here he was set upon by a number of males from the private function,” Sgt Van Gorp said.
“It is alleged that when the hotel shut at 1pm the fighting and aggressive behaviour spilt onto the main street between groups of males and females.”
He said police had then to deal with more than 50 people who were affected by alcohol and behaving like morons.
“What you had was middle-aged people brawling like 15 and 16-year-olds in a boxing ring,” he said.
Sgt Van Gorp said last week that police would be talking to the hotel licensee in relation to security measures, including the number of security officers on duty when there are multiple functions on the premises.
He said no charges have been laid, at this stage, either in relation to the incident inside the hotel, or the street brawl.
“Obviously, if someone was seriously assaulted we would be keen to put a stop to that sort of stupidity, which can lead to tragic outcomes.
Healesville’s war-zone was, he said, an isolated incident.