A house painter has been found guilty of glassing Hilltop Hoods musician MC Pressure at a wake, after jurors rejected claims the attack was a “pure accident”.
It took a South Australian District Court jury little more than two hours to deliver unanimous verdicts in the case of Christopher Peregi on Tuesday afternoon.
Peregi is married to the ex-wife of Daniel Smith, who goes by the name MC Pressure when performing in the popular hip hop group.
The 45-year-old was acquitted on a second charge, which alleged he had assaulted Mr Smith’s brother, Ross Smith, during the same incident.
He showed no emotion as the decision was handed down, but embraced his tearful wife once he was released from the dock.
Judge Liesl Chapman continued his bail and ordered he reappear before the court in February.
During the seven-day trial, jurors heard Peregi hit Mr Smith’s head with a bottle during a small gathering at a home at Aberfoyle Park, in Adelaide’s southern suburbs, in May 2018.
The group had been drinking alcohol for several hours by the time the altercation happened.
Mr Smith, 42, gave evidence that he heard a “loud popping sound”, felt a hot rush, then passed out.
“My next memory is being in a melee and being pushed out of the property and asked to leave,” he told the court.
It had been alleged Ross Smith was punched during the fight, before bystanders intervened and the brothers were taken to a different part of the property.
From the witness box, Peregi told the court his actions were a “pure accident” that happened after his feet got caught in the legs of a chair as he was standing up.
But Mr Smith said he rejected that idea “in every possible way”.
“I’d say it’s a pretty outrageous suggestion, that someone could accidentally fall against someone, smash a glass over the back of their head until they were unconscious,” he told the court.
Prosecutor Carmen Matteo said Mr Smith had no issue with the relationship between Peregi and his former wife, but Ross Smith had “taken exception” to his friend starting a relationship with his brother’s ex-partner.
In her closing remarks on Tuesday, Ms Matteo said jurors did not need to establish a motive in order to find Peregi guilty.
“It might be that this is one issue in this case which your deliberations do not resolve,” she said.
“Human beings are complicated, relationships are complicated.
“Alcohol can make people feel a certain way. To put it bluntly, normal people just lose the plot sometimes.”
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