Schoolgirl guilty of testicle attack

Christine Kellett
September 6, 2007 - 11:35AM

A 40-year-old man had to have his testicles X-rayed after he was kicked in the groin by an enraged schoolgirl, upset that he had pronounced her name wrongly.

Megan Jane Conroy, 18, appeared at Brisbane's District Court this morning where she pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm over the attack, which left her victim in hospital with severe genital bruising.

The man had been at a party with Conroy's parents at the Bribie Island RSL on May 12 last year when the group decided to retire to the Conway house at Sandstone Point, north of Brisbane, to continue festivities.

The court heard Conroy had arrived home drunk about half an hour after the adults and was introduced to the man by her mother.

He pronounced her name May-gan, instead of Mee-gan, prompting Conroy to get upset.

Crown prosecutor Dejana Kovac told the court Conroy asked the man if he was a "Kiwi", and when he replied to the affirmative, she told him to "get f***ed".

She then kneed and kicked him in the groin twice, pushed him against a wall and demanded that he "say her name properly".

"The attack upon the complainant was unprovoked and unjustifiable," Ms Kovac said.

"There really is no justification for the force she used."

The court heard the injured man and his wife soon left the party and attended hospital, but he was cleared of any lasting damage.

Conroy's defence counsel conceded the then 17 year-old had overreacted, but argued the mispronunciation of her name had been perceived as "some sort of slight" at the time.

Judge Tony Rafter SC agreed the incident was out of character for the Woolworths deli assistant, taking into account her lack of criminal history and her obvious remorse from the dock.

He released her on a six-month good-behaviour bond and spared her a criminal conviction.

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