Karawera Rerekura granted bail after allegedly breaking man's jaw at Summernats car festival

Karawera Te Kaitahi Mangu Rerekura, 27, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm over the alleged attack, which followed a dispute about vacant seats.

The Gosford man was granted bail on Thursday, more than two weeks after he injured himself while jumping a fence on the NSW Central Coast in an apparent bid to avoid arrest.

In documents tendered to the ACT Magistrates Court, police say Rerekura's alleged victim sat on the ground at Exhibition Park to watch a Summernats burnout show on January 8.

When a man sitting in the grandstand left, he offered some vacant seats to the alleged victim, his girlfriend and a friend of theirs.

As the alleged victim got up to accept the empty chairs, some other people sat in them and words were exchanged before the newly seated group began to hurl insults.

A man police later identified as Rerekura is said to have eventually got up, spun the alleged victim around and punched him in the jaw.

This left the alleged victim dazed and experiencing "an instant headache".

"[The alleged victim]'s jaw felt shifted and he was spitting and swallowing blood from his mouth," the police documents say.

"[Rerekura] sat back down in his seat and [the alleged victim] departed the grandstand to locate security.

"As [the alleged victim] departed the grandstand, he looked back and observed [Rerekura] shaking hands and cheering with people."

The alleged victim subsequently spent a night in Canberra Hospital, where scans revealed two fractures of his jaw and a dislodged tooth.

He gave police a statement a few days later, while his girlfriend also provided investigators with pictures she had taken of the assailant.

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Police spoke to Rerekura, who had long since returned home, on the phone in mid-March. He was told to come back to the ACT for an interview, or a warrant would be issued for his arrest.

By April 11, investigators had not seen Rerekura and NSW Police officers were dispatched to arrest him.

After suffering what was initially suspected to be a broken ankle while leaping the fence, he was extradited to the ACT and remanded in custody at Canberra's jail.

Defence lawyer Anastasia Qvist told the court on Thursday that the injury was in fact just a sprain, but it had still been painful enough to teach Rerekura that trying to run from police was a "stupid act".

Ms Qvist applied for Rerekura to be granted bail and, because he faced another charge in NSW, she needed to prove special or exceptional circumstances existed to justify his release.

She cited a combination of two factors, including that Rerekura's pregnant partner and four children were solely reliant on the 27-year-old for financial support.

Rerekura had never been in custody before, Ms Qvist added, saying he may stay behind bars for a "significant" length of time awaiting trial when there was a question mark around whether the alleged victim had indeed suffered grievous bodily harm.

Prosecutor Julia Churchill countered that the considerations Rerekura put forward as special or exceptional were in fact "common across the courts".

Ms Churchill also attempted to persuade magistrate James Lawton to refuse bail based on what she said were likelihoods that Rerekura would fail to reappear in court, commit more offences, and endanger the safety or welfare of others.

Her efforts ultimately failed, with Mr Lawton finding the impact of incarceration on Rerekura's family and the possibility his jailing in the ACT would "thwart the administration of justice" in NSW were, in combination, special or exceptional.

The magistrate also said bail conditions could ameliorate the risks posed by Rerekura.

Rerekura was accordingly granted bail, with his case due to return to court on May 23.

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