December 9th 2024.
According to court proceedings, a man was involved in a late-night altercation with Melbourne Storm player Shawn Blore and his brother. The man, Naaman Mikhael, 31, was also charged with affray, but the charge was dismissed on Monday due to mental health reasons. The magistrate ruled that Mikhael was not the instigator of the violence.
The incident took place outside a Lebanese restaurant on Sydney's Little Hunter Street at around 2:30 am on July 7. Mikhael was asked to leave the restaurant after behaving aggressively towards another person. As he stepped outside, he was confronted by the Blore brothers, while other unrelated skirmishes were happening around them, Mikhael's lawyer, George Thomas, explained.
Thomas stated that the situation escalated when people started pointing at Mikhael and identifying him as the source of the disturbance. CCTV footage showed several scuffles breaking out among different groups of people outside the restaurant. Thomas described the footage as shocking to watch, and in that chaotic environment, Mikhael was attacked without provocation.
According to Thomas, Mikhael was elbowed and punched, causing him to lose his memory of the event. He was in a state of shock and concussed. As a result, he took off his shirt and lifted a bollard from outside the restaurant in self-defense. Magistrate Jennifer Price acknowledged that the evidence presented by the prosecution indicated that Mikhael did not initiate the violence and may have been acting in self-defense.
Price stated that a scuffle had broken out between approximately 15 people, and the facts showed that the Blore brothers had stood over Mikhael and assaulted him. It was evident that he had come off worse for wear in the initial stages of the altercation. The court heard that the Blore brothers were seen aggressively arguing with each other and were then seen pushing an elbow into Mikhael's jaw. This caused him to fall to the ground, where he was allegedly punched again. In response, Mikhael grabbed the bollard for protection.
The magistrate concluded that Mikhael was not the initiator of the physical violence and did not play a significant role in the unfolding events. She granted an application to dismiss the charge against him, instead placing him under the care of a mental health professional. The Blore brothers' cases will return to court in August. Shawn Blore joined the Melbourne Storm in 2024 after being traded from his previous team, the Wests Tigers.
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