Bar assault: D'Arcy to pay $180,000 damages to Cowley

Former swimmer Simon Cowley is to receive more than $180,000 plus interest as compensation for an assault on him by swimmer Nick D'Arcy more than three years ago.
Judge Anthony Puckeridge in Sydney's District Court found in favour of Cowley, who sought compensatory, aggravated and exemplary damages after D'Arcy assaulted him in 2008.

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Nick D'Arcy ... ordered to pay $180,000. Photo: Nick Moir

Judge Puckeridge said that Cowley, 30, was entitled to compensatory and aggravated damages of $180,942 plus interest, which is yet to be finalised.
Judge Puckeridge declined to award a final amount until the exact interest had been calculated and he has reserved judgment on the question of costs.
Evidence before the court is that Cowley and D'Arcy had been joining swimmers and former swimmers in the Loft Bar in Sydney in the early hours of March 30, 2008, after the Olympic selection trials in which D'Arcy had been successful.

Injured ... Simon Cowley. Photo: Steven Siewert

According to the evidence, Cowley slapped D'Arcy across the face and, after a brief pause, D'Arcy turned and swung an elbow into Cowley's face, causing extensive injuries including factures to the jaw, nose and eye socket.
Cowley had extensive treatment to realign his jaw and had titanium plates inserted into his face.
"It's not a pleasant feeling to know your face is being held together by a number of plates and screws," Cowley had said during the hearing.
Judge Puckeridge said that he did not accept the defence by D'Arcy that he had a belief that Cowley was about to assault him.
He did not accept that D'Arcy was acting in a belief that he had to defend himself.
He found that D'Arcy did not allow Cowley to stand up so that he could ask him why he had slapped him.
Judge Puckeridge said that Cowley was entitled to compensatory and aggravated damages but he did not believe that he was entitled to exemplary damages because the assault had not been premeditated and D'Arcy had struck Cowley only once.
He found that the scale of damages that he could award lay between $110,000 and $135,000 but he was adding out-of-pocket expenses and added costs that brought the figure up to more than $180,000.
Outside the court Cowley said that the case was "never about money, rather that it was getting into court and getting [his] version across".
He said that he recognised that Darcy, 23, who is presently swimming in America was a "talented swimmer".
After the assault, D'Arcy pleaded guilty in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court in 2009 to recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, for which he received a suspended sentence of 14 months.
Cowley said today: "This has been an opportunity for the full version of events to come out. It has been a long time coming and I am very happy that we have gone through the process."

Of the damages awarded, $135,000 is for compensatory damages, including aggravated damages, $10,389 for domestic assistance and $6252 for future out-of-pocket expenses.
- with AAP


Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/sport/swimming/bar-assault-darcy-to-pay-180000-damages-to-cowley-20110718-1hkt1.html#ixzz1SQeFUhzf