Dad fined for belting bullies

Jeremy Sollars | 14th October 2009

Seeking help: Darren Klemra outside court yesterday.

A FATHER who hit a 13-year-old schoolboy in the head and threw another one off his bike after they bullied his daughter and one of her friends has been fined $750.

Darren Klemra, 39, pleaded guilty in the Warwick Magistrates Court yesterday to two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm after an incident at St Mary's Primary School in July.

The court heard Klemra's 14-year-old daughter and a close friend arrived home from school on July 23 in tears after the latest in a series of bullying episodes inflicted on them by the boys.

The police prosecutor told the court an angry Klemra decided to confront the pair and went looking for them, finding them near the school after which a verbal exchange took place.

But the atmosphere changed dramatically when one of the boys “smirked” at Klemra - to use his defence lawyer's word - who then hit the boy in the jaw causing him to stagger and pulled the second boy off his bicycle and onto the ground.

Both boys required medical attention.

Klemra was interviewed at the Warwick Police Station on August 4 where he stated his daughter and her friend had been subjected to “ongoing bullying” about which complaints had been made to the school authorities.

He told officers he lost his temper when the young pair “laughed at him”.

Klemra's defence lawyer told the court his client, who works in the mining industry in central and north Queensland, had been “shocked” by his actions and had voluntarily undergone anger management counselling.

“He was fine until the first complainant - the main antagonist in the bullying - laughed and smirked at him and he immediately reacted,” his lawyer said.

“He is not sure if it was a punch or a slap to the face but it was not a full-blown strike.

“In the same emotional heat he pulled (the other boy) off his bike and put him on the ground.”

Klemra's lawyer said his client was at pains to make it clear to other parents - via the media - that actions such as his were “not the solution” to the bullying problem.

He told the court the 39-year-old was a former apprentice of the year and marine engineer who was devoted to his family and tendered references from relatives and business people.

Magistrate Anne Thacker told Klemra he had made “a terrible mistake” and that she was “surprised” to see a man of his age and otherwise good character in court.

In fining him $750 with no conviction recorded she took account of Klemra's early plea of guilty and his moves to obtain counselling.