A Sydney man who was arrested and charged after he intervened in a homophobic attack against another man has had his conviction overturned.
Mirco Olivieri, who is 30 years old and a member of the LGBTIQA+ communities, attended the World Pride celebrations in January 2023 alongside a friend.
As he was walking past a kebab shop near The Stonewall Hotel on Oxford Street in Darlinghurst, he saw two men harassing a gay man named Jack Schmidt. After he intervened, he was pushed to the ground and called a homophobic slur.
When he stood up, he threw punches at one of the men. Police arrested all three men and charged them with affray. Oliveri spent eight hours in custody.
He pleaded guilty to the charge and in April 2023 a local magistrate sentenced him to a two-year community corrections order. The two other men did not appear in court until July 2023, one received no conviction, and the other was given a two-year conditional release.
After the two men received lesser sentences Oliveri appealed his conviction. On January 8th in Dowling Centre District Court in Sydney Judge Mark Williams agreed and removed the conviction, instead imposing a one-year conditional release order.
“This man was intervening to protect someone he thought was being unfairly victimised,” the judge said. “These two apparently larger, more aggressive men – they were the ones who initiated it.”
The judges’ comments were reported in The Sydney Morning Herald. The court also heard that the police never took a statement from Jack Schmidt, the initial victim of the confrontation.
Speaking outside court Oliveri told the media that he felt it was important the people stood up for each other, and he felt a moral obligation when he saw Schmidt being attacked by two larger men.
“If everybody doesn’t send the right message to the right people… the world will become a terrible place to live in,” he said.
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