Disturbing mobile‑phone footage has been played in a Cairns court after a man was lured to a meet‑up via a fake Grindr profile and violently attacked and robbed by three men.
The victim was ambushed at Smithfield Library on 22 October 2024. In August this year, 20‑year‑old Blake Dean Nightingall pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm in company and stealing over the incident.
Prosecutors told Cairns Magistrates Court Nightingall had created a Grindr profile using images of himself at 15 and was messaging the victim before arranging the meeting. When the man arrived, he was set upon by the trio in what police described as a “vigilante” bashing.
John‑Joseph Charles Raphael Sarota‑Novak‑Patterson was the final member of the group to face court this week. Police prosecutors identified him as the primary perpetrator of the physical violence; Sarota‑Novak‑Patterson had told investigators he believed he had “found a paedophile” on the app, the court heard.
Court footage shows the three men laughing, taunting and threatening the victim while seizing his phone and demanding $3,000. In the video they are heard shouting, “You wanna get shot? You wanna get hung? You wanna get f*ed up?” and, “You give me three grand otherwise I’ll tell the police and my boys, and I’ll cut your fingers off. Where’s your phone, brah? We’re going to fk you up so bad.”
The footage captured Sarota‑Novak‑Patterson putting the man in a headlock, punching him, throwing him to the ground and dragging him while the victim screamed. The court heard the third man, Max Fryer, struck the victim once with a baseball bat.
Sentences and court remarks
Sarota‑Novak‑Patterson pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and stealing. Acting Magistrate Raimund Heggie described the video evidence as “disturbing” and sentenced him to 15 months’ imprisonment, with parole eligibility from the date of sentence. The magistrate ordered him to pay $1,500 compensation within two months or serve an additional 50 days’ imprisonment.
Earlier, Nightingall was sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment with immediate parole, alongside fines relating to unrelated drug possession offences. Fryer, the third man, had previously been sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment with immediate parole.
Magistrate Adam Johnson, who dealt with Nightingall’s case, condemned the attack as “appalling”. He criticised the assailants for effectively appointing themselves “judge, jury and executioner” and noted their allegations against the victim were left “uncorroborated” and “unsubstantiated” in court.
Police told the court no charges were laid against the victim after investigators found insufficient evidence to support the trio’s claims. The defendants had refused to provide police with codes to unlock their mobile phones, the court heard.
