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April 30th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Updated
A spectator has been jailed for belting an umpire during a country football grand final.
Jeffrey John Hunter, 36, of Port Pirie in South Australia will spend the next seven months in jail for the attack during last year’s Spencer Gulf League grand final.
The court was told Hunter walked to the middle of Memorial Oval at three-quarter time and punched the umpire in the head.
The king-hit left Paul Fitzgerald, 56, with a cut eye and fractured socket and a nose fracture.
Mr Fitzgerald said he would never umpire again, and is set to have more surgery for his injuries today.
Magistrate Peter Snopek said he reduced the jail sentence from 10 months because of Hunter’s good record and early guilty plea.
But he said there was a need to deter other people from such behaviour.
Mr Fitzgerald said the assault had drained him physically, mentally and emotionally.
“I don’t really want to be known as the king-hit umpire. Everything that is put in the papers, everything that’s written, is the king-hit umpire,” he said.
Topics:
courts-and-trials,
law-crime-and-justice,
crime,
prisons-and-punishment,
port-pirie-5540,
port-augusta-5700,
sa,
australia
First posted
Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-01/footy-spectator-jailed-for-umpire-king-hit/4661834
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