THE COUPLE at the centre of a dog escape turned all-out bloody brawl in East Maitland have had their case pushed back in court.
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Rebecca Doubleday and Jai Ryan Duley will be sentenced mid-September for their part in the violent scrap that saw a 35-year-old man hospitalised with 11 lacerations and fractures to his ribs, spine, clavicle and fingers.
Both have pleaded guilty to charges of reckless wounding in company and faced Maitland Local Court on Wednesday, where magistrate John Chicken adjourned the matter for sentence.
The fight broke out when a dog escaped from an Alliance Street home at East Maitland on July 13, last year.
Doubleday told police her and Duley were at their home on Bruce Street when a Pitbull cross Shar Pei approached her children.
According to the police facts, Duley yelled at the dog before walking to a home on Alliance Street to confront the owner.
He kicked the fence and returned home, when the dog's owner called her partner who walked back to Duley and Doubleday's place to talk to them about the incident.
It's then that Doubleday called her ex-partner James Reece Fogarty, 24, for back-up.
He and his friends went back to the home on Alliance Street, where the group shook hands with the partner of the woman who owned the dog and agreed to "sort it out" - with the 35-year-old telling Fogarty and his crew that he didn't want "drama over the dog".
Fogarty agreed, replying, "let's shake on it and be cool".
Things took a turn when Fogarty got in an altercation with a member of his own group, pulling a tomahawk axe from his back pocket and chasing the man away from the house.
Amid all of the chaos, the 35-year-old man was punched in the head by one of the group while Doubleday attacked the woman who owned the dog - pulling her hair and punching her, according to police facts.
While the 35-year-old man was wrestling one of the members of the group on the front lawn, Fogarty hit him multiple times with the tomahawk in the side and back - at least five of which were captured on CCTV.
The victim managed to get away, where his partner locked them both inside the house and called Triple Zero - laying on top of him in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
The group fled while police and paramedics were being called, with emergency services arriving to find traumatised children and the 35-year-old bleeding profusely.
Fogarty went home, disabled his CCTV and burned his clothes. He was seen leaving the property about 9:18pm that evening.
A few days later he flew to the Sunshine Coast where he was arrested by Queensland police as soon as the plane touched down.
The 35-year old man was treated at John Hunter Hospital suffering 11 cuts to his back and body and had to undergo surgery due to the severity of the attack.
He also suffered fractures to his ribs, his clavicle, spine and two fingers.
Fogarty pleaded guilty to wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and is expected to be sentenced in Newcastle District Court in October.
Duley and Doubleday have pleaded guilty to reckless wounding in company and are currently on bail while awaiting sentence.
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Madeline Link
Madeline Link is a journalist at the Newcastle Herald, with a focus on Lake Macquarie City Council. To keep up with my stories, follow my Twitter @madeline_link, for tips email madeline.link@newcastleherald.com.au.
Madeline Link is a journalist at the Newcastle Herald, with a focus on Lake Macquarie City Council. To keep up with my stories, follow my Twitter @madeline_link, for tips email madeline.link@newcastleherald.com.au.
