It is extremely lucky that no one was very seriously injured or even killed in the brawl at Cootamundra Ex-Services Club on 12 January, Superintendent of the Riverina Police District Bob Noble said at a press conference in Cootamundra today.
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Supt Noble announced that over the weekend four more men had been charged with affray, in addition to the two men from Wagga and Junee charged last Wednesday.
He said charges had been laid against a 32-year-old man from Cootamundra, an 18-year-old and a 19-year-old from Young and a 27-year-old from Wombat.
All six have been bailed to appear in Cootamundra Local Court on Monday, April 1.
“I suspect there are at least several more people who will be charged and I can’t rule out other offences being proceeded against too as we draw more information out,” he said.
Supt Noble said affray was a very serious matter carrying a lengthy jail term on conviction, and if people wanted to carry on in an unruly manner they would face consequences.
“The people of Cootamundra can take some heart from the fact that there’s only one person from this town and it’s been mostly visitors from out of town, but if people want to act violently without regard for their safety of others it won’t be tolerated,” he said.
Supt Noble said alcohol was obviously involved in the incident and there may have been some on-field rivalry spilling out off the field, but it wasn’t clear at this stage what had sparked it and “it’s often the case that the people involved don’t even know”.
He said police had processed a massive amount of information including eyewitness accounts, CCTV and footage that had been forwarded by the public and the media.
“We think there are probably other people out there that have footage on their phones and we would urge them to bring it to us, it will be treated confidentially.” he said.
