A mentally ill Fijian alcoholic with a long history of violence has been spared jail for an unprovoked assault at a Hobart pub after a judge noted he was at risk of being deported.
Mitiele Saula Waqabaca, 47, was given a sentence of just six months, wholly suspended for two years, after previously pleading guilty to assault over the November 2024 attack at the Beltana Hotel, which left his victim with a fractured temple and a brain bleed.
The Supreme Court of Tasmania heard earlier this month that Waqabaca punched the other man, named only as Mr Stebbings, after an argument over the rules of a game of pool, and then left the pub without assisting his unconscious victim.
Justice Kate Cuthbertson told Waqabaca during sentence that as he was a permanent resident, but not a citizen, a prison sentence of 12 months or more could “result in a revocation of your visa”.
She also noted he had a drunk and disorderly conviction from 2015, domestic violence order breach, assault and property destruction convictions from 2020 for which he escaped with a fine, riotous behaviour convictions from 2022 and 2024, and more domestic violence assault convictions from 2025 that resulted in a community corrections order.
The court heard that psychiatrist Dr Jennifer Wright determined that Waqabaca had PTSD from being stabbed in 2017, suffered from “major depression”, and had a “substance use disorder” related to his excessive consumption of alcohol.
Dr Wright found that PTSD made him “more vulnerable to responding impulsively and to feel fear in such a context” as the pub argument, and impaired his “ability to exercise appropriate judgment, to make calm and rational choices and think clearly”.
The psychiatrist also submitted that Waqabaca’s “mental health issues would be negatively impacted by a period of imprisonment”, and that a custodial sentence would impact his “ability to continue employment and seek psychological treatment”.
Justice Cuthbertson found that Waqabaca gave differing accounts of the assault to Dr Wright and the police, telling investigators and his previous Community Corrections’ assessment that he had blacked out and was unaware of his actions, but telling the psychiatrist that he “remembered feeling emotionally heightened in regard to feeling unsafe” and “freaked out” after realising what he had done.
But Justice Cuthbertson accepted that Waqabaca suffered from PTSD, and said that while she did not agree that it was causally related to the attack in the way described by Dr Wright, he “clearly” required support to deal with his trauma.
“This is not your first offence of violence, but it is your first offence of significant violence. The sentence I impose is intended to deter you and others from offending in a like manner, denounce your conduct, protect the public and also assist you to address the issues underlying your conduct,” she told him.
“Your offending warrants the imposition of a period of imprisonment, but it will be wholly suspended on strict conditions.”
She ordered Waqabaca to complete a 40-hour therapeutic behaviour change course called the EQUIPS Aggression program, undergo treatment for alcoholism, and submit to “medical, psychological or psychiatric assessment or treatment as directed by a probation officer”.
Header image: A pool table at the pub where the attack took place. (Beltana Hotel).
