Shane William Ryan pleaded guilty for the act and has been jailed.
Accidents happen anywhere and the gym is included. This incident does not look like an accident. In October 2020, an incident occurred at a gym outside of Darwin, Australia where a man seemed to have tripped and slammed a 20kg weight into the head of another gym goer. Nearly 18 months later, footage of the horrific incident has emerged.
Shane Michael Ryan placed guilty for his part in the attack at the Next Level Gym in the Palmerston suburb of Rosebery. Ryan lunges at the other man, who is lying flat on a bench, and slams the weight into his skull. This was deemed a violent, intentional act and Ryan has been jailed for 19 months.
Justice John Burns claimed that the act was dangerous as he caught the gym goer in a vulnerable position.
“The victim was vulnerable as he was lying on his back and had weights in his hands, he was unable to protect himself — he also had no reason to believe that you would attack him as you did,” Burns said in court.
“The lack of an obvious motive for you to have engaged in this offence is troubling.”
In the video, you can see Ryan approach the man while carrying a weight. The other gym goers is performing an exercise with dumbbells while lying on a fly bench. This left him in a position where it was difficult to see this attack coming and impossible to defend himself. The man suffered a fractured skull along with cuts and swelling.
Ryan does not flee after this attack. He sticks around and even helps call the ambulance for the other man. This does not change the fact that there was no motive for the incident and that it was a ruthless act.
“Where there is obvious motive for an offence it is often possible to assess the likelihood of the offender reoffending,” Burns continued.
“That is simply not possible in circumstances where there is no obvious motive and you have chosen not to shed any light on that issue.”
The incident occurred at the end of 2020 and Ryan will be released from jail in May. Ryan was required to serve 10 months before becoming eligible for parole but it looks like he is going to serve the entire sentence.
For more news and updates, follow Generation Iron on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
