A young Perth doctor has been charged with manslaughter after allegedly putting a man he caught peering into a friend’s window in a fatal chokehold.
Christian Jack Joseph, 26, a junior doctor at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, faced Perth Magistrates Court on Sunday over the incident, which took place on South Terrace in Fremantle at about 1.30am on Saturday morning.
The court heard Joseph and a friend were returning from a night out when they saw a 63-year-old man standing on a boundary fence and looking into a room, WA Today reported.
They shouted at the older man and chased him before Joseph pinned him to the ground and put him in a chokehold for almost two minutes, and when Joseph realised the man was unconscious he told his friend to call Triple-Zero and began performing CPR, the court was told.
The man died after being taken to Fiona Stanley Hospital, ABC News reported.
Joseph’s lawyer said his client acted in self-defence, was fearful of the “intimidating” 63-year-old, and was “dedicated to saving lives”, as shown by his attempts to provide first aid.
He also told the court information had yet to be provided on why the older man had become unresponsive so fast.
But the prosecution said the man only appeared to be looking into the window, and there was no indication of what he was doing when he was confronted by Joseph and his friend.
The court heard the incident was caught on CCTV.
The magistrate denied an application for bail and another for a suppression order on Joseph’s identity, saying the circumstances were too serious for bail to be granted, and that there were insufficient grounds to prevent the accused’s name being published.
Joseph will face court again on August 5.
Header image: Left, right, Christian Jack Joseph (Instagram).
